January 29, 2008
Testing for Grammar Usage
A recent response to my blog sent by a Nevada friend included a good listing of markets but her message also included the misuse of a prepositional phrase: She wrote "It was a treat for Joe and I…" Knowing that she wants to put out the best possible writing for the market sites she frequents, I wrote to correct her. It should be "…for Joe and me." I cited the business of knowing a prepositional phrase from other grammatical forms. She thanked me and replied, in addition, that she seems "always to get it wrong…" that she has read the rules over and over but they don't seem to stick in her head.
As a proponent of the OLD method of teaching grammar by diagraming sentences, I sent this rather simple test that solves the problem evey time: Reverse the two people in the sentence. You would not say "It was a treat for I and Joe." For those of you who learned grammar in the post-diagramming age, try this test. It works every time.
Happy writing. Willma
1 Comment on Testing for Grammar Usage »
January 29, 2008
Lin @ 4:29 pm:
That's a great trick for understanding the "object of a preposition." (I was fortunate enough to both have and teach diagramming.) You might share with your friend what I did to cure myself of mistaking affect with effect. I wrote a 4 X 6 card and taped it up in front of me. "Affect is always a verb." That worked until I started hanging out with psychologists talking about how people present themselves emotionally: "their affect." Set up, setup, and set-up was another "set" I posted in front of myself.