Grammar mistakes can usually get the best of us. You probably know that many brilliant people can’t spell. Other brilliant people have a whole lot of trouble with grammar and word usage. That doesn’t mean you should ignore either of them, believing that the people you write to will be able to see through your written errors and see you for the brilliant person you are.
No – you do need to get some basic grammar and word usage issues straightened out. Otherwise, a segment of the population will look at what you’ve written – or said – and believe that you don’t know much.
Just today I read a blog post entitled “Whom do they think they’re kidding?”
Who vs. Whom
Huh? That usage jarred me, so just to be sure I wasn’t the one who was crazy, I looked up usage for who and whom.
Who is a subject. Whom is an object. In common usage, we don’t use “whom” very often, so I think people trying to sound “proper” stick it in where it doesn’t belong.
Think about how it sounds… you would never say “Whom was that on the phone?” But it was proper when Hemingway wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
Me vs. I
Another one that sets my teeth on edge is the mis-use of “me” and “I.” I know someone who is a brilliant historian, but who can’t get that one straight. He always says things like “For my wife and I.” Getting this one right is SO easy – all you have to do is remove the other person.
There’s no way you’d say “I’m going to go buy some takeout food for I.” At least I hope there’s no way you would.
Other people take it one step farther, into rudeness. They say “for I and my wife.” No, no, no. Always put the other person first! Say “for my wife and me.” I is a subject, me is an object.
Myself vs. I or Me
How about this one: “For information please call Joe Jones or myself.” Even worse: ‘Please call myself or Joe Jones.”
Would you ever say “Please call myself?” I hope not. Why do people get so mixed up when they add another person into the sentence?
The article that actually got me on today’s rant was a story about a real estate showing. It started out: “Myself and my clients walked…” Now seriously, would you ever say “Myself walked a mile through deep snow?” Would you say “Myself walked in the door?” You might say “I walked a mile in the snow by myself” – because “myself” is an object, never a subject. You’d also say “I try to take good care of myself.” But you’d never say “Myself takes good care of I.”
In almost all of these “subject versus object” problems, simply removing the other person and seeing how the sentence reads without them shows you how it should be.
Him vs. He
Take this one: “Jerry and him went to the store.” Would you say “Him went to the store?” I doubt it. I think it sounds stilted to say “Jerry and he went,” so I’d say “He and Jerry went.” But not “Me and Jerry went.” No… You and Jerry are the subjects of this sentence, so say “Jerry and I went.” “Me” is another object word, never a subject.
There really is an easy way to see if you’re making glaring mistakes. It’s that little button up there under “tools” that says “spelling and grammar.” It isn’t always correct, but it will alert you to places that might be wrong so you can get a second opinion.
Please, for the sake of your career, don’t be ashamed to ask someone if you aren’t sure about word usage. We each have different talents, and you can be absolutely brilliant in math or science or sales or computer programming – and still have trouble with spelling or grammar. That’s why many well-known authors and copywriters hire proofreaders to check their work.
Written by Marte Cliff. She is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in making people feel good about buying products or services, or donating to worthy causes.
I did not realize this was so important…thank you!