It was another ordinary day. Halfway through another story for my blog when I found it necessary to decide if I should use the word "who" or the word "whom." Have spent many hours over the years struggling to decide about the correct grammar which should be used in my stories. Should I use "Who" or "Whom"? How about "Lay" or "Lie"? And then there is "Badly" or just "Bad". And, also have to make sure I don't end a sentence with a preposition or use the word "None" as singular when it should be plural...or is it the other way around? If only Mrs. Eisenhart was still around today I could give her a call for help. Mrs. Eisenhart was my 11th grade English teacher who seemed to pick on me all the time. At least it seemed that way to me. She is the one teacher who helped me the most in High School. If it hadn't been for her you probably wouldn't be able to read too many of my stories without trying to figure out what I meant due to my poor grammar skills. I'll list a few of the grammar rules that she taught me in my junior...or is it Junior...year in high school so you can see what I mean about using proper grammar while writing.
1. "Who" or "Whom": This rule is fairly simple, even for me. "Who" refers to the subject of a sentence or clause, while "Whom" refers to the object of the sentence or clause. Examples of this would be: "Who went to the game with you?" rather than "Whom went to the game with you?" A good way for me to determine the correct word is to substitute the word He (Who)/Him(Whom). Would you say "He went to the game with me" or "Him went to the game with me"? Got it?
2. "Me or "I": This rule I believe I learned way before I ever had Mrs. Eisenhart as a teacher. What would you say..."Jim and I went to the store", or would you say..."Jim and me went to the store?" I realize it is is easy for me to say it is "Jim and I", but if you're still not sure...take out the other person's name an see how it sounds, such as..."I went to the store" or "Me went to the store." You can see that "I" has to be the answer.
3. Then there is the rule of ending a sentence with a preposition. Would you say, "It's not something I want to argue?" or "It's not something I want to argue about" with 'about' being a preposition? In this case adding the 'about' is not necessary. But, I have read that this may just be one rule you may have to argue with someone about.
4. How about "Good" and "Well." Now this is a tough one and I don't think anyone will argue with you no matter which you choose. Would you say "I'm doing "good" or " I'm doing "well'? "Good" is being used as an adverb in this instance which means that "Well" is the correct answer, but in most cases no one will know the difference anyway.
5. And...should you say, "I could care less," or "I couldn't care less."? Don't they both mean the same thing? Not really! Saying "I couldn't care less" means that you actually care as much as you ever will while "I could care less" means you can care more. Now, are you lost? Well, I could care less!
6. When should you capitalize and when should you not capitalize? If you are talking about western states in the United States, should you capitalize the word western? If you had used it as an adjective then you don't need to capitalize it, but if you use it as a noun it should be capitalized, such as Western United States. Same as...I went to the "doctor" the other day is correct just as I went to see "Doctor" Smith is correct.
7. And, finally...are the words "Neither" and "None" singular or plural? When you say "neither" you are referring to more than one. If you would say, "Neither the boy or girl knew the answer", it would be plural, but if you said "Neither child knew the answer it would be singular. Right? Same with the word "None." That, too, can be both singular and plural, so the rule for this one, as I had been told by Mrs. Eisenhart, is use your judgement. Now, that means I can use either word and Mrs. Eisenhart won't mark it wrong. Wow, that never happened! Mrs. Eisenhart passed away a few years ago and I believe she is still watching down over me each and every time I type a story. So, if I make a mistake, it's her fault!
I'm sure there are many other rules in the "Grammar" world, but these are the rules I come upon the most while writing my stories. That, and the problem with spelling. But, I asume youse know that bye now! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
PS - Mrs. Eisenhart passed away a few years ago, but I believe she is still watching down over me each and every time I type a story. So, if I make a mistake, it's her fault!
