I've been quite surprised to hear this a number of times of late. I've even heard Clinton Kelly, of TLC's "What Not to Wear", who is normally articulate, misuse "sunk".
I'm talking about the verbs "sink", "stink", "drink", even "sing", and others.
I'm sure you learned somewhere along the way the very simple, "sink, sank, sunk". This illustrates the verb usage for different tenses:
"Today, the boat sinks."
"Yesterday, the boat sank."
"By now, the boat has sunk."
It's the same with any of those verbs.
"I drink coffee to stay awake."
"I drank too much coffee and now I can't go to sleep."
"Last night, I couldn't sleep, because I had drunk too much coffee."
It's pretty simple, right? To help you remember, here are the WRONG WRONG WRONG examples:
WRONG "When that sunk in, she changed her mind." WRONG
WRONG "He drunk a whole bottle of tequila." WRONG
WRONG "I told my boyfriend that his apartment stunk." WRONG
Remember, those are the WRONG ones! Use the right ones and I won't have to come after you with a pitchfork. Who'd have thunk it?
Any questions, you know where to find me.
Happy Grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
www.SusanKMorrow.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
"Kids's"??? Really?
I am not even kidding.
I was watching "Untold Stories of the E.R." on TLC, "The Alleged Learning Channel", when one of the portrayers of a dramatization confessed to the doctor, "The kids's mother died last year."
Yes! She said, "kids's"! And it sounded like "kidz iz".
I almost fell out of my chair.
Do I really have to spell it out?
The plural of "kid" is "kids".
The plural possessive of "kids" is "kids'," pronounced, "kidz".
Nuff said.
I need some Tylenol.
Happy grammaring--or some grammaring, at least,
Susan K. Morrow
www.SusanKMorrow.com
I was watching "Untold Stories of the E.R." on TLC, "The Alleged Learning Channel", when one of the portrayers of a dramatization confessed to the doctor, "The kids's mother died last year."
Yes! She said, "kids's"! And it sounded like "kidz iz".
I almost fell out of my chair.
Do I really have to spell it out?
The plural of "kid" is "kids".
The plural possessive of "kids" is "kids'," pronounced, "kidz".
Nuff said.
I need some Tylenol.
Happy grammaring--or some grammaring, at least,
Susan K. Morrow
www.SusanKMorrow.com
Monday, May 25, 2009
Another Catapostrophe!
Okay, I just can't stand this anymore. Intelligent, well-read people using "I" as a possessive!
Here's a quote from an email I received recently:
"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and I's anniversary."
I am not making this up! Even if I could, I wouldn't--because this just goes against all the laws of nature!
Okay, okay, before I pop a vein, I'm going to just calm down and tell you the appropriate way to express the same sentence:
"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and my anniversary."
That's right. "I" never becomes a possessive--or even a contraction using " 's ". Never, ever, never, never say, "I's birthday" or "her and I's house". For all that is good and holy, please learn the simple and proper way to express a first-person possessive: "my".
And just to get a little more specific, for those of you who care, here is more useful info on possessives:
If two or more people possess a thing, then only the last one in the list is given the possessive. For example:
"This is my dad, my mom, and my house."
"Today is Paul and Jan's anniversary."
If two or more people possess things independently of one another, everybody gets to be possessive. For example:
"Those are my dad's and my brother's cars."
"Yesterday was both Paul's and Jan's birthday."
I hope this clears things up. I'm feeling a little better now... except I just remembered someone saying, "I need you guys's help." AAaaaauauugghhhgh!
Until next time, I remain,
Your Grammar Grouch,
Susan K. Morrow
Here's a quote from an email I received recently:
"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and I's anniversary."
I am not making this up! Even if I could, I wouldn't--because this just goes against all the laws of nature!
Okay, okay, before I pop a vein, I'm going to just calm down and tell you the appropriate way to express the same sentence:
"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and my anniversary."
That's right. "I" never becomes a possessive--or even a contraction using " 's ". Never, ever, never, never say, "I's birthday" or "her and I's house". For all that is good and holy, please learn the simple and proper way to express a first-person possessive: "my".
And just to get a little more specific, for those of you who care, here is more useful info on possessives:
If two or more people possess a thing, then only the last one in the list is given the possessive. For example:
"This is my dad, my mom, and my house."
"Today is Paul and Jan's anniversary."
If two or more people possess things independently of one another, everybody gets to be possessive. For example:
"Those are my dad's and my brother's cars."
"Yesterday was both Paul's and Jan's birthday."
I hope this clears things up. I'm feeling a little better now... except I just remembered someone saying, "I need you guys's help." AAaaaauauugghhhgh!
Until next time, I remain,
Your Grammar Grouch,
Susan K. Morrow
Friday, May 22, 2009
Gift Me with a Break
Oy. Some time ago, I complained about the word "impact" being used as a verb. My mom, or "Grammar Grouch, Sr.", has told me it is a lost cause, that I will just have to bear it when someone says, "How does this impact the surrounding counties?" So I grit my teeth.
And in fairness, using "impact" as a verb does make sense. It replaces the phrase, "have an impact on", so it's more effficient.
Also, I sometimes think we should have some verbs that don't exist. For example, I think "smallen" should be coined to mean "to make [something] appear smaller." As in, "This giant bed smallens the room."
HOWEVER (I was going to say BUT, but nobody likes a big BUT), the use of "gift" as a verb has finally gotten to me. It has gotten stuck in my craw and I just can't take it anymore!
Why, oh, why on God's green earth, would a person say "gift" when he/she has the perfectly good verb "give"?????
That's right, I said it. Just use "give", for pity's sake!
"John gifted me with a new car."
"John gave me a new car."
Seems like a no-brainer to me. Straighten up, people!
Until next time, happy grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
And in fairness, using "impact" as a verb does make sense. It replaces the phrase, "have an impact on", so it's more effficient.
Also, I sometimes think we should have some verbs that don't exist. For example, I think "smallen" should be coined to mean "to make [something] appear smaller." As in, "This giant bed smallens the room."
HOWEVER (I was going to say BUT, but nobody likes a big BUT), the use of "gift" as a verb has finally gotten to me. It has gotten stuck in my craw and I just can't take it anymore!
Why, oh, why on God's green earth, would a person say "gift" when he/she has the perfectly good verb "give"?????
That's right, I said it. Just use "give", for pity's sake!
"John gifted me with a new car."
"John gave me a new car."
Seems like a no-brainer to me. Straighten up, people!
Until next time, happy grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
Monday, May 18, 2009
Amazing Quote
Courtesy of Anu Garg of A Word A Day:
"When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language correctly, -- as that a sentence must never end with a particle, -- and perceive how implicitly even the learned obey it, I think -- Any fool can make a rule. And every fool will mind it." -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
Happy Grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
"When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language correctly, -- as that a sentence must never end with a particle, -- and perceive how implicitly even the learned obey it, I think -- Any fool can make a rule. And every fool will mind it." -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
Happy Grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
Friday, March 27, 2009
It's "Voila!"
I think this is weird. I do. Maybe it's because I took French in high school and college. Or maybe it's because I read enough to have seen this word in print. But I think this word is in common usage and I don't understand why people are butchering it.
I know you've heard it used in spoken conversation, probably on TV. The word is "Voila!" It is a French word that means, "There!" or "There it is!"
"Voila!" has come into common usage in English and it seems a perfectly good word to me. So what's my rant about this time?
I have read materials written by educated people in which the word was presented as some variation on... Are you ready for this? "Waalaa!" See also, "Whala!"
Are you kidding me with this? This innocent little French word does not deserve such ignorant mutilation!
Let's get it straight: "Voila!" With a V.
Happy Grammaring. (Well, I'm not that happy, but maybe you can be. Pooh.)
Susan K. Morrow
www.SusanKMorrow.com
I know you've heard it used in spoken conversation, probably on TV. The word is "Voila!" It is a French word that means, "There!" or "There it is!"
"Voila!" has come into common usage in English and it seems a perfectly good word to me. So what's my rant about this time?
I have read materials written by educated people in which the word was presented as some variation on... Are you ready for this? "Waalaa!" See also, "Whala!"
Are you kidding me with this? This innocent little French word does not deserve such ignorant mutilation!
Let's get it straight: "Voila!" With a V.
Happy Grammaring. (Well, I'm not that happy, but maybe you can be. Pooh.)
Susan K. Morrow
www.SusanKMorrow.com
An Apple, A Bird
Author's note: The following originally appeared in my old "Grammar Grouch" newsletter, dated 1/24/05. Sadly, this is still a major problem. I noticed it twice in the local paper yesterday. --skm
if a word begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, or u and sometimes h),
For example, John said, "I got a e-mail about a hour ago." No, this is just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Sigh.
My request for the New Year is that you help me to fix this strange and irritating problem.
Please, no more "a hour", "a email", "a ex-employee", "a idiot"! Enough already!
I am noticing an alarming number of "n's" being dropped from the article "an." I hope I don't have to tell you that,
if a word begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, or u and sometimes h),
the article before it must be "an."
My request for the New Year is that you help me to fix this strange and irritating problem.
Please, no more "a hour", "a email", "a ex-employee", "a idiot"! Enough already!
Many thanks and I remain
Your Grammar Grouch,
Monday, February 23, 2009
Apostrophes Revisted
I subscribe to A Word A Day, a daily email providing interesting words and their etymology. Well, being a Grammar Grouch myself, I certainly notice the best responses to the AWAD editions, which are published on Sundays. I found this one regarding apostrophes particularly helpful:
From: Jim Halverson (jhalv aol.com)
Subject: dog's age
Your use of the possessive "dog's" reminded me of an example I used in my workbook Spelling Works to illustrate the difficulty of spelling possessives in English. If this sentence is written with no apostrophes or commas, as if it were being imparted orally rather than in writing, then it becomes impossibly ambiguous: "We lost the dogs leashes and bones." Hmm, just what was lost? Dogs, leashes, and bones? One dog's leashes and bones? Two or more dogs' leashes and bones?
English unfortunately evolved with the same affix, -s, used for possessives (from Old English and Old Norse) and most plurals (mainly from the French influence). To differentiate between the two, the apostrophe was then added. But the correct placement of that little mark is not easy, especially for children, because we have to stop and ask ourselves, "Is that noun a plural, a singular possessive, or a plural possessive?" And then we have to remind ourselves that the apostrophe indicates possession only for nouns, not for possessive pronouns like hers. How often have students written -- have I written! -- something like "The dog lost it's bones."
You've never had that problem? Quick, correct any mistakes in this sentence in two seconds: Billy said, "Its so funny when the dogs tails wagging."
Until next time, my friends, happy grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
512-257-2737
www.SusanKMorrow.com
From: Jim Halverson (jhalv aol.com)
Subject: dog's age
Your use of the possessive "dog's" reminded me of an example I used in my workbook Spelling Works to illustrate the difficulty of spelling possessives in English. If this sentence is written with no apostrophes or commas, as if it were being imparted orally rather than in writing, then it becomes impossibly ambiguous: "We lost the dogs leashes and bones." Hmm, just what was lost? Dogs, leashes, and bones? One dog's leashes and bones? Two or more dogs' leashes and bones?
English unfortunately evolved with the same affix, -s, used for possessives (from Old English and Old Norse) and most plurals (mainly from the French influence). To differentiate between the two, the apostrophe was then added. But the correct placement of that little mark is not easy, especially for children, because we have to stop and ask ourselves, "Is that noun a plural, a singular possessive, or a plural possessive?" And then we have to remind ourselves that the apostrophe indicates possession only for nouns, not for possessive pronouns like hers. How often have students written -- have I written! -- something like "The dog lost it's bones."
You've never had that problem? Quick, correct any mistakes in this sentence in two seconds: Billy said, "Its so funny when the dogs tails wagging."
Until next time, my friends, happy grammaring!
Susan K. Morrow
512-257-2737
www.SusanKMorrow.com
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