Who’s vs. Whose
There’s a battle going on in the world of words, and heaven only knows who’s going to win! Everywhere I go, I see “who’s” being used as a possessive — I don’t know why; it’s just plain silly.
Actually, I have a pretty good guess about why it’s happening. People don’t understand apostrophes. I’ve talked about apostrophes before. The rules are not that complicated. An apostrophe attached to a noun or pronoun indicates either that something is missing, or that something is owned. Except whe you are dealing with the personal pronouns and the indefinite pronouns.
Personal pronouns have a possessive form: my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs. So does the indefinite pronoun: whose.
The only correct way to indicate possession with a pronoun is to use its possessive form.
- His ball is red.
- Her book is torn.
- The bus lost its bumper.
- Whose book is that?
The apostrophe is used to show that something is missing — usually a few letters from a verb like is, has, have, or had.
- It’s time for lunch. (It is…)
- He’s bought the car. (He has…)
- We’ve been to Hawai’i. (We have…)
- She’d been ill. (She had…)
- Who’s going to the movie? (Who is…)
- I’m happy today. (I am…)
I know it’s hard to believe, but it really is that simple. Whose means some indefinite person owns something. Who’s means what indefinite person is acting or being acted on by whatever verb follows … who is.
Hope that helps clear up the confusion, so that I can stop seeing calendars that say “Can you guess who’s car this is?”
Overdo and Overdue are not interchangeable.
This error is a simple mix-up due to sloppy pronunciation.
Overdo (which should be pronounced /oh vuhr doo/) means to attempt too much or to go too far.
Examples:
- Don’t overdo the pepper in that soup, or it will be inedible.
- Myra wanted to work outside on this hot day, so we told her to be careful not to overdo it and have a heat stroke.
Overdue (which should be pronounced /oh vuhr dyoo/) means past deadline or past the best time for achieving a goal or task.
Examples:
- If the library books are not turned in by the stamped date, they will be overdue and you will owe a fine..
- John painted the house last week — a task that was long overdue, as the paint had peeled completely off of the front of the house.
Hope this clears up this increasingly common mistake.
Dependent or Dependant?
The Grammar Guru has learned something today, and she’s here to pass it on to you.
The Grammar Guru was taught that dependant was not a word — that it was an all-too-common misspelling of dependent, and that dependent was always the correct spelling.
Imagine the Grammar Guru’s surprise when, upon checking her references prior to responding to a reader’s inquiry, she found that both spellings are considered correct.
One dictionary lists dependant as a variant spelling of dependent, leading the Grammar Guru to believe that this, perhaps, is one of those misspellings that is so common that it eventually becomes a word. More research is needed on this aspect.
Several dictionaries, however, offer different definitions for the two words, with dependent referring to something that hangs (e.g.: In the doorway we saw a spider dependent from its web.), and dependant referring to a person who is leaglly supported by another person (e.g.: List your dependants on your IRS forms.).
Thanks to the alert reader who inquired about this fascinating question.
Less and Fewer Are Not Interchangeable
These two words may be the most misused words in the language. They are not interchangeable; each has a specific meaning and a specific usage.
Fewer is a comparative adjective used with things that may be counted — a good test is to determine whether the word is something that has both a singular and a plural (like book or egg). Fewer is also used with collective nouns (like people).
Less is used with uncountable things (like misery or happiness. It may also be used with plural nouns when referring to money or distance (less than fifty miles).
While misuse of these words probably won’t get you into serious trouble with your editor — primarily because nearly everyone misuses these words — proper usage will prove you to be a grammar maven.
A Question of Agreement
I’ve received an odd e-mail, but it raises a very good question. I’m answering it here because I just can’t believe it’s for real. A professional journalist would not be e-mailing me to answer such an elementary grammatical question. I’m pretty sure that the e-mail was a phishing expedition. So, editing out all the live links, here’s the query I got from “Paul Buck, Deputy chief sub-editor, news, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong.”
“Dear editormum, as a professional journalist I should be able to figure this one out, but I can’t. So here goes: Which is correct: He sent 21 people to their deaths OR He sent 21 people to their death ? Google favours the former by 53,600 to 15,600 — and I do too. It’s one of those cases where you find yourself going with what sounds right. But I hate to fall back on instinct! ….”
The answer is that it’s a matter of agreement. The possessive pronoun “their” must agree with the word that it’s modifying in number and gender. As it’s a plural pronoun, it requires a plural to modify. Thus, the correct answer is “He sent 21 people to their deaths.”
The only exception would be if “people” were being used as a collective noun to refer to a specific class of people, which would also require the use of a definite article: The Nazis sought to send the Jewish people to their death. Without the word “the,” the word “deaths” would be required.
The Core of the Corps Is Loyalty
But if you use the wrong form of the word pronounced /kohr/, you will have little loyalty from your editors or your employers.
Core means the middle, the base, the main parts. An apple core, core curriculum, core values … all basics.
Corps means a body of people acting as a single group. The Marine Corps, the Press Corps, the Corps of Engineers … all teams united by a common purpose.
The best way to remember the difference is that if you are talking about a body, it’s a corps — think of a corpse without the E … they come from the same root word. Pretty much anything else is a core.
To Clench or To Clinch … That Is the Question
The Grammar Guru has received a request to explain the difference between these two words, to settle a fellow-editor’s dispute with her typesetter. Always glad to oblige — we editors need to keep those uppity typesetters in their places.
According to Fowler, clinch is a variant of clench that appeared in the sixteenth century and has been considered a separate word ever since. In general, clinch is the preferred spelling, unless you are dealing with teeth, fingers, or fists.
Clench means to hold the teeth or fists tightly together, or to contract (like a muscle).
Clinch means to resolve decisively, to flatten the end of a nail, to embrace while pinning the arms to the sides (as in boxing or wrestling), or to hold passionately.
Example: The wrestler clenched his teeth as he wriggled, trying to disengage himself from his opponent’s clinching hold on him.
Hope this clears everything up!
Stop Adding Syllables!
Some pronunciation — and now spelling — errors have become quasi-acceptable in the language, to the point that a couple of them can even be found in the dictionary. That still doesn’t make them right.
Orientated is not a word. Orient is a verb meaning to find one’s position or direction. One can orient oneself. If one did so in the past, one oriented oneself. To be in the process of finding oneself is the act of orientation. And that’s where the confusion came in. When we take the verb and convert it to noun form, we add the suffix -ation to indicate “the act of.” Somewhere along the way, someone who didn’t know any better tried to convert the noun form back to the verb, and failed to take the whole suffix out. And now we have this pervasive problem.
Consider preventative. Another non-word. The correct form is preventive. But people get sloppy in their pronunciation, or some inadequately-educated journalist uses a word repeatedly, and we find ourselves stuck with these abominations.
Death in the Family
The Grammar Guru will be taking a few days off due to a death in her family.
Spell This One Right …
a quick note about a frequently misspelled word.
Lightning is the bolt from the sky that can electrify your evening.
Lightening is what someone does to the load you carry by taking some of it off your hands. Lightening is also what happens to the sky when the sun comes up, or to your hair when you bleach it.
A lightning bolt has no E.