The Logical Blog

by Jennie Ruby

In my most recent online writing class, I noticed that when deleting unnecessary words from a sample sentence, some students wanted to keep the word the before every item in a list, and some wanted to take it out. Here is the original wordy sentence:
 

You must order the lumber, as well as the nails, additionally to include the concrete and the sealant, at the very beginning of the planning stages of the project.

Here is the revised version, a simple list:

You must order the lumber, the nails, the concrete and the sealant at the beginning of the project.

Do we need the word the before every item? Grammatically, the choices are to repeat the word the before every item or use it in front of just the first item. Here is how the sentence looks without the repeated the.

You must order the lumber, nails, concrete and sealant at the beginning of the project.

The grammar is correct, but to me, the sentence now sounds too rushed or clipped. It has less of the feel of enumerating multiple items to be ordered. Now it sounds like lumber, nails, concrete and sealant are all one big thing to be ordered as a unit.

At this point, I think the sentence would sound better if we left off even the first instance of the:

You must order lumber, nails, concrete and sealant at the beginning of the project.

This version of the sentence sounds really smooth, but now the implication is that you are ordering general supplies, whereas including the word the meant that you were ordering the specific lumber, etc., needed for the project.

So here we have tried out three different ways to present this list and examined the slight differences in meaning, tone or emphasis. The one thing we cannot do with this list is include the word the randomly for some of the items and not others. You cannot use the on the first, third, and last items, for example, while omitting it from the second item. This rule is called parallelism-items in a list must be parallel in structure. But exactly how you make them parallel is a choice based on meaning, tone and emphasis. 

Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending my Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. I also teach the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts class.

About the Author:  Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

by Jennie Ruby

In every custom grammar class I teach, I get a request to review who versus whom. The choice between who and whom is arguably the hardest decision in grammar to make correctly. It can involve identifying subject-verb pairs, understanding the concept of object of a preposition, parsing out clauses that are acting as objects, pinpointing phrases that are acting as subjects, and knowing a little bit about infinitive verbs.

But it all comes down to this: is the word who/m a subject or an object in the sentence. To determine whether who/m is a subject, one method is to find every verb in the sentence and figure out exactly what word is the subject of that verb-in other words, identify who or what did that action. If the word who/m is the subject of any verb, the choice is who. If the word who is not the subject of any verb, then it has to be whom.

Here are some examples:

*Who/m put the sneakers in the dryer?*

The verb is put. The word Who/m is immediately before the word put, and is the subject of that verb. Because who/m is the subject of a verb, the correct word is who.

Who put the sneakers in the dryer?

*He gave the important letter to who/m?*

The verb is gave. The word he is the subject of gave. There are no other verbs in this sentence. The word who/m is not the subject of any verb, so the correct choice is whom.

He gave the important letter to whom?

*I wondered who/m the manager would choose for the new supervisory position.

The first verb in the sentence is wondered. The word I is the subject of wondered, so that verb is taken. But there is another verb in this sentence: would choose (a helping verb plus main verb combination). The word manager is the subject of that verb. There are no more verbs in the sentence, and the word who was not the subject of any verb. The correct choice is whom.

I wondered whom the manager would choose for the new supervisory position.

*She asked me who/m had the best sales record.*

The first verb is asked. The word she is the subject of asked. The next verb is had. The word who/m is the subject of had, so the correct choice is who.

She asked me who had the best sales record.

So far, we have seen only action verbs in the sample sentences. However, nonaction verbs, infinitives, and imperative verbs can be confusing in sentences with who/whom. We will take a look at those next time.

In the meanwhile, your homework is to notice any incorrect uses of who/whom you see or hear in the next week, whether they are in the news, in e-mail, on the radio, or wherever. When you find them, correct them, and send them in. I'll share good examples next time.

Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending my Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. I also teach the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts class.

About the Author:  Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

by Jennie Ruby

New Year's Day is the proper noun naming the day we celebrate the new year. That is why it is always capitalized. New Year's Eve is the night before, when all the partying really takes place. When wishing someone a happy new year, the phrase is capitalized and does not need the possessive apostrophe: Happy New Year! Occasionally, you may be using the phrase as an abbreviated form of the proper name of the day: Will I see you on New Year's? is actually short for New Year's Day, or possibly New Year's Eve, and therefore has the apostrophe.

Since there is only one New Year's Day per year, you never have to worry about putting the apostrophe after the s. Even when you are thinking back on all the New Year's Days you have celebrated, the apostrophe still goes before the s.

Here are some things NOT to do: Don't be like the fellow Billy who is giving us a list on his website of things to do for "New Years." If you are putting the s on New Year, you must use the apostrophe. And don't be like the website for clip art that is advertising "Happy New Year images." That is probably just their database sticking the word images after Happy New Year, but it is grammatically suspect. "Images for Happy New Year" would work better.

As one year ends and another year begins, let's all wish our friends and colleagues Happy Holidays! (no apostrophe) and Happy New Year! with no fear about the apostrophes!