Grammar Moses: Me oh my, I screwed up again
Shortly before Thanksgiving, reader Lloyd Thomas sent me a question:
"I am a bit confused in my 85-year-old brain about one short paragraph (in Grammar Moses) in Sunday's paper: 'Stan took a swipe at me for me having explained our policy ...' The use of the second 'me' is a bit clumsy, I think, and/or awkward. In fact, the second 'me' could be left out of the sentence altogether. Would it be wrong to say that what is wrong is a failure to use a possessive with a gerund?"
Dearest Lloyd,
I apologize humbly for returning your email well past its expiration date.
Every so often I dig deep into my mailbag and loose all of the mail that's been stuck to its sides. Out popped yours.
You are correct! The second "me" should have been a "my" because it's a gerund phrase.
We all have our grammar bugbears, whether we like to admit it or not.
I have always had a problem remembering this one. For a few years, News Editor Michelle Holdway backstopped me on this very issue with a greater frequency than I care to admit.
I also have a great deal of trouble typing "that."
Seriously, it often comes out "taht."
Thank goodness I don't use a typewriter anymore.
What are your demons? Drop me a line, and we'll explore them and embarrass you into mending your ways.
Get woke!
"What does this word 'woke' mean nowadays?" asked reader Doris Aussin. "I thought it was a verb like: 'He woke up'? It seems to have a whole new meaning, but I can't figure it out."
To be "woke" is to be aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). If you are more woke than I, then you are woker. If you are the most woke person you know, you're the wokest.
Basically, you've had an awakening to the plight of others.
Now this definition wasn't in Doris' dictionary. And it's not in mine, either.
That means we both need to buy a new dictionary.
Did you know that Merriam-Webster generally adds about 1,000 words a year to its dictionary? "Woke" has been a part of it since September 2017.
It's a racket, I tell you.
You think you know all of the words, and then the dictionary people add a bunch of new ones - or new definitions, at least - every year.
It's like buying your favorite band's greatest hits album - even though you have all of its previous albums - just because it has ONE NEW SONG!
This is the clearest reminder to me that English is a living, breathing, ever-expanding organism, and if we don't embrace the new, we're missing out.
Write carefully!
• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.