Monday, July 9, 2012

Even the president of the United States must beware of grammar goofs.

"I believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, folks like myself, to expire."  What is wrong with this pronouncement that President Obama said today?  I ask you, what is wrong with this PRONOUNcement?  It is, of course, the incorrect use of the reflexive pronoun, "myself."

Obama has fallen into the trap of thinking that using "myself" makes him sound more sophisticated and educated.  Sorry, Mr. President.  Myself is a reflexive pronoun-- Used correctly, you might find it in phrases such as "I did it myself" or "Most people like like to read novels, but I, myself, prefer history books."  The word you should have used is simple, little, ordinary me.

Me is the perfectly honorable, sophisticated, and correct word to use in your sentence.  "I believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, folks like me, to expire." Me.  Me. Please remember... me.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

SSSSSS!

I don't know how I found this, but I did:  A blog named No Bad Language (love it!), written by Vickie Bates. http://nobadlanguage.net/about-me/ I am a fan of anyone who promotes proper grammar  and clean language usage.  Vickie puts forth her opinion on the tricky showing of possessiveness when the possessor has a name that ends in letter S... or worse, double S, as I do.  
Vickie writes:

Excessive Possessiveness


Mills’s educational excellence is enhanced by its sylvan campus.

I fear this is one of those grammar strictures that’s broken so many times, it’s about to get dumped. Somewhere along the way, editors stopped doing their duty and allowed writers to hang an “s” onto possessives ending in “s,” so they work just like possessives that don’t have an “s” at the end.
The rule, in case anyone still wonders, is this:
Add ’s to possessives that don’t end with the letter “s” (except for “its”). Possessives that end with “s” simply take an apostrophe. For example:
Lt. Valeris’ alacrity enabled Star Fleet to deduce Ambassador Nanclus’ role in the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon.
In recent decades, the Associated Press Stylebook (a favorite of mine) allowed for the addition of ’s to possessives that end in “s” when the word is only one syllable. Therefore: 
Mills’s educational excellence is enhanced by its sylvan campus.
Where do you stand on slipping in a second “s”?  In my case, growing up with one rule means that when I encounter examples like the one above, I lose track of the point of the sentence and stop while my mind corrects the grammar. Plus, to my eyes, it looks wrong, that row of “ssssss,” like a cartoon-balloon for a snake. What do you think? Am I being too possessive of the old rules? Is the new usage more helpful? Does it make more sense?
Well, Vickie, I disagree.  
  I have a surname that ends in two esses.  To flap a mere apostrophe on the end does not do it for me.  When a speaker refers to the home of James Arness, it is natural and logical to say and write "James Arness's home."  The venerable Strunk and White's Elements of Style promotes the adding of apostrophe S.  The only being who routinely receives merely an added apostrophe is Jesus.  For some reason, "Jesus' name, Jesus' birth, Jesus' resurrection" is the way to go.  I guess He gets an exemption.  
Listen to speakers when they talk of the possession-hood of a person who has a name ending in S or SS.  Most of the time, you will hear repetition of the S sound.  Dennis's tennis shoes; Janis's songs (how is this any different from Janice's songs?); Moses's walking stick.  It is natural to say it, and it should be natural to show it with the addition of apostrophe S.  Let's keep in step with the pros and and consistently go with apostrophe S.  (Except for Jesus.  He can do it any way he wants.)