Can you spot the agreement error in each of these sentences?

1. Here’s three good reasons to buy your office supplies from us.
2. There’s many causes of school violence.
3. Here is the sales report, the market analysis, and the strategic plan.
4. There is Harry, Sue, and Michael.
5. Here’s a few boxes of old photographs from the attic.
6. There’s not even a dozen protesters at the rally today.

Each of these sentences incorrectly pairs the singular verb is with a plural subject.

Why Here and There Are Tricky

Why do these inverted constructions—when subjects appear after their verbs—cause trouble?

Since here and there can never be subjects regardless of their position in a sentence, when we use them to launch a clause, we must look ahead to determine if the subject is singular or plural. Only then can we choose the appropriate verb.

Preoccupied with composing a message, a writer may overlook the plural subject and default to a singular verb.

Here are the same sentences with the correct (plural) verbs:

1. Here ARE three good reasons to buy your office supplies from us.
2. There ARE many causes of school violence. [Note that the original sentence used the contraction “there’s,” short for “there is,” but the contracted form of “there are” is the awkward “there’re.”]
3. Here ARE the sales report, the market analysis, and the strategic plan.
4. There ARE Harry, Sue, and Michael.
5. Here ARE a few boxes of old photographs from the attic.
6. There ARE not [or There AREN’T] even a dozen protesters at the rally today.

Our Ears and Eyes Get Us in Trouble

Sentences 1 and 2 are fairly straightforward. Even before reading through to the plural nouns “reasons” and “causes,” we should know that plural verbs are necessary since the adjectives “three” and “many” invariably denote plurality.

Sentences 3 and 4 prove more challenging because in each case a singular noun (“the sales report” and “Harry”) immediately follows the plural verb, and such juxtaposition troubles our ears—until we continue reading and discover that those singular nouns form only one part of what are, in fact, plural subjects.

In sentence 3 the complete subject consists of “the sales report” AND “the market analysis” AND “the strategic plan”; in sentence 4 it comprises “Harry” AND “Sue” AND “Michael.”

Such discordant sentences could, of course, be rewritten. If we want to keep our ears happy AND be grammatically correct, we might rework them this way:

3. The sales report, the market analysis, and the strategic plan are in this folder.
4. Harry, Sue, and Michael are walking in the door.

Finally, sentences 5 and 6 can also give us pause. With the noun phrases “a few boxes” and “a dozen protesters,” we may be initially fooled by the article a that launches these expressions, and we may anticipate singular subjects. The only way to avoid agreement errors with these phrases is, once again, to look ahead and accurately identify the subjects before deciding on the appropriate verb. In these two examples, the subjects are the plural nouns boxes and protesters, respectively.

A Word of Caution

Relying solely on word-processing grammar checkers to flag agreement errors (and other language issues, for that matter) is risky. Such programs may lack the sophistication to distinguish between a discrete single-noun subject and a singular noun that is merely part of a plural subject, especially when the subject appears after (rather than before) the verb. (On the bright side, this potential software shortcoming points to the continued need for human oversight in writing-related endeavors. AI has not rendered us wordsmiths redundant—yet.)

All careful writers should, therefore, spend an extra moment scrutinizing the entire clause before deciding whether to employ a singular or plural verb after an introductory here or there. (Incidentally, sentences beginning with “where is” warrant similar scrutiny. “Where’s the beef?” is grammatically correct; “Where’s my keys?” is not.)

There’s a Related Issue 

In general, writers tend to start too many sentences with the word there. Most of those sentences could be more succinct. Consider these examples:

• Original: There is a squirrel making noise in our attic.
• Revision: A squirrel is making noise in our attic.

• Original: There are ten people serving on the zoning committee.
• Revision: Ten people serve on the zoning committee.

• Original: There is a tendency for people to lie about their age.
• Revision: People tend to lie about their age.

Test Yourself

Is the number of the verb correct in the following sentences?

1. Here’s the list of addresses you asked me to compile.
2. There is a casserole, a fruit salad, and a lemon pie in the refrigerator.
3. Here’s the top ten reasons for subscribing to the Get It Write blog on English grammar, mechanics, and usage.
4. There’s not enough hours in the day for me to complete my work.
5. Here’s some paint samples for you to take home.
6. There’s no doughnuts in the break room this morning, and there’s only a couple of drops of coffee left (so we might as well go home!).

Answers

1. HERE’S [or Here IS] . . . [The singular noun list is the subject.]
2. There ARE . . . [Three items constitute a plural subject. To be more succinct, we might instead write, “A casserole, a fruit salad, and a lemon pie are in the refrigerator.”]
3. Here ARE the top ten reasons . . . [The plural noun reasons is the subject.]
4. There ARE not [or There AREN’T] enough hours . . . [The plural noun hours is the subject.]
5. Here ARE some paint samples . . . [The plural noun samples is the subject.]
6. There ARE no doughnuts . . . and there ARE only a couple of drops . . . [Both doughnuts and drops are plural subjects.]

Elsewhere on this site we discuss the opposite problem: the use of plural verbs with singular subjects. This can occur, for instance, when either or neither is the subject of a clause. And who, which, and that can present equally tricky situations because these pronouns are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on their antecedent(s). Check out those links, too!

Copyright Get It Write 2001. Revised 2024.

The post When Sentences Start with “Here” or “There” appeared first on Get It Write.

People commonly misuse myself. Sometimes they mistakenly use it as a subject, such as in the expression “Anna and myself are going home.” But if we remove “Anna and,” most of us know it would be grammatically incorrect to say “Myself is going home.”

Why? Because we need a subject for the verb “are going,” and myself can never be a subject.

So when do we use reflexive pronouns, the ones that end with –self  or –selves (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, yourselves, ourselves, themselves)?

To use reflexive pronouns appropriately, we need to remember three facts about them:

First, Reflexive Pronouns Can Be Objects but Never Subjects

Reflexive pronouns serve as objects (indirect and direct) of verbs, verbals, or prepositions:

• Henry scared himself. [Himself is the direct object of the verb scared.]
• I gave myself a treat. [Myself is the indirect object of the verb gave; treat is the direct object, the thing being given “to myself”]
• Before the meeting, she allowed herself time to park her car. [Herself is the indirect object of the verb allowed; time is the direct object, the thing being allowed “to herself“]
• We voted to give ourselves a raise. [Ourselves is the indirect object of the verbal (infinitive) phrase “to give”; the raise is the direct object, the thing being given “to ourselves.”]
• The candidate inspired large donations, propelling herself to the top of the polls. [Herself is the object of the verbal (participial) phrase “propelling herself to the top of the polls.”]
• She bought lavish gifts for her children and herself. [Herself is one of the two objects of the prepositional phrase “for her children and herself”; herself and children are also the indirect objects of the verb bought.]

Second, Reflexive Pronouns Can Intensify Any Noun or Pronoun—Subject or Object

Reflexive pronouns can serve as intensifiers, functioning grammatically as appositives (words that rename other words):

1. I myself wrote that check.
2. I wrote that check myself.
3. Harriot assured us that she herself would lock the building.
4. Harriot assured us that she would lock the building herself.

As we can see in the second and fourth sentences, a reflexive pronoun does not have to be right next to a noun to intensify it.

So while a reflexive pronoun can never be a subject, it’s fine for a reflexive pronoun to intensify a subject, as is the case in all four of these examples.

Third, a Reflexive Pronoun Must Always Refer to the Subject of Its Own Clause

This third point is very important: Regardless of which role a reflexive pronoun fills—object or intensifier—the reflexive pronoun must refer to (think reflect) the same person or thing serving as the subject of the same clause:

• In the clause “Henry hurt himself,” Henry and himself refer to the same person.
• In the clause “I gave myself a treat,” I and myself refer to the same person.
• In the clause “she allowed herself time . . . ,” she and herself refer to the same person.
• In the clause “she bought lavish gifts for her children and herself,” she and herself refer to the same person.
• In the clause “We voted to give ourselves a raise this year,” we and ourselves refer to the same people.
• In the clause “I myself wrote that check,” I and myself refer to the same person.
• In the clause “that she would lock the building herself,” she and herself refer to the same person.

Sometimes writers and speakers think they can use myself (or any of the reflexive pronouns) to avoid having to choose between I and me (or any of the subject-object pronoun pairs, such as she/her, he/him, etc.), but as we have seen here, we should use reflexive pronouns only in certain grammatical constructions.

TEST YOURSELF

Three of these four sentences use reflexive pronouns incorrectly:

1. My boss gave the tickets to Henry and myself.
2. Audrey and myself are going to the shareholders’ meeting this afternoon.
3. Hilda herself was responsible for the fire that burned down her house.
4. Gayle asked if Paul and herself could leave work early that afternoon.

ANSWERS

• Sentence 3 correctly uses the reflexive pronoun: herself intensifies the subject Hilda.

• Sentence 1 is wrong because the subject—boss—is not the same person as myself. (It is worth pointing out, too, that the correct pronoun in sentence 1 should be me, not I, because the preposition to requires an object, not a subject.)

• Sentences 2 and 4 both use a reflexive pronoun as the subject of a clause. Although a reflexive pronoun can intensify a subject, it can never be a subject. Sentence 2, then, should use I instead of myself, and sentence 4 should use she instead of herself.

Since many people use myself when they aren’t sure whether to use I or me, readers may find it helpful to read our article on that subject.

Copyright 2002 Get It Write. Revised 2019, 2023.

The post Myself (and Other Reflexive Pronouns) appeared first on Get It Write.

A Little Background on a Longstanding Debate

The one-space-versus-two controversy has raged throughout the history of printing. As Jim Felici notes, this debate can be traced back even to the Declaration of Independence and to early versions of the Judeo-Christian Bible. A quick online search reveals that it continues to be a hot topic.

For many years, I believed (and even stated in this blog) that the two-space convention arose after the introduction of the typewriter, in response to its lack of proportionally spaced characters. With this new machine, all letters, numbers, and symbols were “monospaced”: they each took up the same amount of real estate on the typewritten page, an arrangement that resulted in more space between skinny characters (such as the letter “I” and the number “1”) than between wider ones (such as the letters “M” and “W”).

According to a broadly circulated argument, inserting more space after end punctuation came about to ensure that readers could easily spot the end of one sentence and the start of another, since that gap would be larger than the gaps surrounding narrow characters.

I have since learned that this theory is full of holes.

Another closely related but equally specious belief held that book publishers have always employed only one space after periods. Not true.

In an article appearing in its Shop Talk series, the very reputable Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) dispels these myths and others that commonly appear in discussions about spacing after end punctuation. (If you’re looking for an even deeper dive, this article by an artisan book publishing company makes a compelling case for the notion that spacing decisions have always been largely arbitrary, having little to do with font size, typewriter limitations, or printing traditions.)

The Two-Space Camp

Most (but, as we will see, not all) people who favor two spaces learned to type on a typewriter, and a rule acquired many moons ago is often deeply entrenched and difficult to shake. But those who stick to it may be doing so not merely out of habit or even sheer stubbornness: some insert two spaces because they believe that this end-of-sentence visual cue renders their texts more readable. 

In 2018, our “two-spacers” gained meager support from researchers who claimed that reading comprehension improves slightly with the additional space. Though their study was not terribly persuasive, it nonetheless elicited some strong opinions, as reflected in this article in The Atlantic.

The One-Space Camp

Those who favor one space likely learned keyboarding on computers, and in this modern, screen-based environment, two spaces are usually deemed unnecessary and even distracting.

Some “one-spacers,” in fact, can be extremely dismissive of their two-space counterparts, as evidenced in this article, enlightening not only for its lack of nuance but also for the heated responses expressed in the comments. 

So What Do I Advise? 

For the past forty years, I’ve inserted only one space after sentence-ending punctuation (also known as terminal punctuation). When all is said and done—and even after we dispense with the false information and historical myths swirling around this issue—holding on to the two-space convention many of us learned decades ago is difficult to justify. (And be aware that editors routinely remove double spaces from documents intended for publication.)

That said, if you feel strongly about using two spaces, be consistent throughout any single document. Readers may become distracted (if only subconsciously) by spacing that fluctuates, and text that is consistently spaced is more aesthetically pleasing. 

It’s also helpful to consider other factors:

• If you choose a monospaced word processing font (such as Courier New, Lucida Console, or Andale Mono), you might gain some readability by using two spaces.

• As far as I know, most (if not all) style books advocate the one-space approach. However, if your workplace has an in-house style manual or adheres to a particular style (e.g., MLA, APA, AP, Chicago), then you should stick to the guidance provided by that resource. 

Old Habits Die Hard

Regardless of how or when you picked up the two-space habit, it may prove more challenging to shed—should you wish to do so—than you anticipated.  Luckily, word processing software provides tools to assist with your transition to the single-space side:

• Microsoft Word’s punctuation settings can be configured to flag sentences followed by two spaces; see the CMOS article mentioned earlier for easy step-by-step instructions.

• When using a proportionally spaced font, I avail myself of my software program’s global find-and-replace function to search for all instances of two spaces in a document and replace them with one. The process takes about three seconds and ensures consistency.

(If you’re eager to tackle another hackle-raising issue, head on over to a post about the Oxford comma.)

Copyright 2002 Get It Write. Revised 2018, 2023.

The post One Space or Two after Periods? appeared first on Get It Write.

• The administrative assistant filed John’s and Rob’s report.
• The administrative assistant filed John and Rob’s report.

The rule about handling possessives with joint and separate ownership is pretty straightforward: In sentences describing joint ownership, only the second (or last, if we have more than two) noun or pronoun should be possessive, whereas in cases of separate ownership, both (or all) nouns or pronouns should be possessive.

In this case, then—each person having produced a separate report—the apostrophes in the first sentence are correct.

However, if you said that neither of these sentences is correct, you’re right! If each person has generated a separate report, then the word report should be plural:

• The administrative assistant filed John’s and Rob’s reports.

In a different scenario, if John and Rob had collaborated on a single report, the correct construction would be the second one:

• The administrative assistant filed John and Rob’s report.

Sometimes punctuation serves not only to enhance readability but also to convey meaning. The writer’s decision about which names to make possessive affects the reader’s interpretation of the sentence: did the assistant file two reports—one authored by John and one authored by Rob—or only one report written by both John and Rob?

(For another example of punctuation affecting the meaning of a sentence, see the post on the Oxford comma.)

Here are two additional examples followed by explanations:

• We are planning to attend Sam and Teresa’s retirement party. (One party is being held to celebrate both people’s retirement, so the party “belongs,” so to speak, to them jointly.)
• We are planning to attend the party honoring Sam’s and Teresa’s outstanding sales records. (Each of them possesses a separate, individual sales record; we have two records, not a single record jointly owned.)

• When I went to my husband’s family reunion, I finally met Joe’s and Martha’s parents. (Joe and Martha are not siblings; they do not “own” the same set of parents.)
• When I went to my husband’s family reunion, I finally met Tim and Sally’s parents. (Tim and Sally are siblings; they do “own” the same set of parents.)

And that’s how we differentiate between joint and separate ownership.

This blog features several other posts about when and how to make words possessive, so be sure to check them out, too:

• One is about making words possessive when they end in s (or in z, x, ch, or sh).
• Another addresses the difference between possessive nouns and attributive ones (or, put another way, why we have an apostrophe in Mother’s Day and Father’s Day but not in Bankers School or Veterans Day).
• We have a post explaining why we need the possessive case before a gerund.
• And last but perhaps most important, we have a post addressing the very common mistake of making words possessive when they simply need to be plural.

Have a question? Drop it in the comment section below. I love hearing from readers.

Test Yourself

1. 1. We complained to the housekeeping service when the trash receptacles in Hal and Barb’s offices had not been emptied for three days. [They work in separate offices.]
   2. Small Town and Eden’s population increases in the last decade have been staggering, despite economic hardships endured by both counties.
   3. After the ceremony, everyone who attended Nancy’s and Tom’s wedding walked across the street to the reception.
   4. Susan and Richard’s proposals were outstanding, so the company has funded both of the projects for the next fiscal year.
   5. The seamstress had to alter both Emily and Julie’s dress before the party.

Answers

1. 1. Hal’s and Barb’s offices
   2. Small Town’s and Eden’s population increases
   3. Nancy and Tom’s wedding
   4. Susan’s and Richard’s proposals
   5. Emily’s and Judy’s dresses

Copyright 2001 Get It Write. Revised 2023.

The post Possessives: Joint or Separate Ownership appeared first on Get It Write.

First, A Brief Grammar Lesson

Unless they are absolutes, adjectives and adverbs can take three forms or degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. The adjectives ambitious, friendly, precise, and witty, for example, can be expressed in the following degrees:

Positive: ambitious, friendly, precise, witty.

Comparative: more ambitious, friendlier, more precise, wittier.

Superlative: most ambitious, friendliest, most precise, wittiest.

For native English speakers, the positive degree poses little difficulty since it is simply the “regular” (or uninflected, as grammarians would say) form of a modifier. but the use of the comparative and superlative degrees occasionally gives pause even to seasoned communicators.

Comparative vs. Superlative

In a nutshell, comparative modifiers compare two items (or people, places, etc.) and employ more or an –er suffix, and superlative modifiers compare three or more items and employ most or an –est suffix:

• Amy is the more studious of the Williamses’ two children, and she is also the most studious student in her class.
• Our apartment building is the taller of the two on our block. It happens also to be the tallest one in town.

Here are five sentences we will use for illustration:

1. Eliza is the oldest of my two daughters.
2. Having his choice of two offices, Melvin opted for the one closest to the elevator.
3. Of the three cities the committee considered for the conference next fall, Charleston has more restaurants and sightseeing opportunities.
4. The tomato plants in our yard this year are more fruitful than any we have ever grown.
5. Holly sold more Girl Scout cookies than anyone in her troop.

The first two are incorrect because they use the superlatives oldest and closest to compare only two daughters and two offices, respectively. Instead, the comparative degree makes more sense:

• Eliza is the older of my two daughters.
• Having his choice of two offices, Melvin opted for the one closer to the elevator.

We encounter the reverse problem in sentence 3. Since more than two cities are being compared, the superlative degree is the better choice:

• Of the three cities the committee considered for the conference next fall, Charleston has the most restaurants and sightseeing opportunities.

If, however, the sentence had been written so that each of the other two cities was being compared separately to Charleston, then the comparative degree would work:

• Of the three cities the committee considered for the conference next fall, Charleston has more restaurants and sightseeing opportunities than either of the other two.

Logic Plays a Role

What about sentence 4? Well, if we declare that the tomato plants in our yard this year are more fruitful than any tomato plants we have ever grown, we are saying, in effect, that they are more fruitful than even themselves (since any includes this year’s plants)—a statement that is illogical.

The appropriate way to announce that this year’s bounty is unprecedented is to say that the plants are “more fruitful than any other tomato plants we have ever grown.” The word other clarifies that we are actually comparing this year’s crop to the crops of each earlier year—but only one earlier year at a time. And given that only two years’ crops are being compared at a time, we should use the comparative “more fruitful than. . . .”

But we could opt to rephrase the sentence to render the superlative appropriate:

• The tomato plants in our yard this year are the most fruitful we have ever grown.

Here the superlative degree makes sense because we are comparing this year’s crop to the crops from all previous years at once; that is, we are simultaneously comparing more than two crops.

Finally, sentence 5 displays the same faulty construction as sentence 4, and its remedy is similar. Saying that Holly sold more Girl Scout cookies than anyone in her troop implies that she also outsold herself (since anyone would include Holly), so we must either add the word else (to clarify that her sales achievement is being compared with that of each of her troop mates individually) or recast the sentence in the superlative:

• Holly sold more Girl Scout cookies than anyone else in her troop.
• Holly sold the most Girl Scout cookies of everyone in her troop.

This quotation from Words into Type* sums it up well: “The word other or else is required with a comparative when a person or thing is compared with a class of which it is a part.”

*Words into Type, out of print now for decades though available online, remains highly regarded by many copyeditors and writers.

TEST YOURSELF

Can you spot problems with the comparative and superlative degrees in these sentences?

1. The highway connecting Bloomingdale to Mooresville is more frequently traveled than any road in California.
2. Of all the annual reports we have read in the past decade, James Little’s was more concise.
3. Three employees made suggestions for improving the company’s health care benefits, but Susan Miller’s plan was the most practical and cost effective.
4. Faced with two investment portfolio options, most employees chose the more aggressive one because it has performed best during the past five years.
5. We examined two vacation packages and decided that the trip to Disney World was the most affordable.
6. Which do you like best, Coke or Pepsi?
7. No restaurant in the city offers as many gluten-free dishes as we do.
8. Death Valley, California, is hotter than anywhere on earth.
9. And last but not least, here’s one for all the Brady Bunch fans in the audience: Jan was envious of her older sister, Marcia, and they often bickered. But Peter got along well with his oldest sister, even though he once broke her nose while tossing a football with his younger brother, Bobby.

ANSWERS

1. more frequently traveled than any OTHER road in California or the MOST frequently traveled road in California.”
2. the MOST concise
3. CORRECT
4. performed BETTER (MORE aggressive is correct)
5. was MORE affordable
6. BETTER
7. No OTHER restaurant
8. hotter than anywhere ELSE on earth OR the HOTTEST place on earth
9. CORRECT. Fans of The Brady Bunch will recall that there were six siblings in this blended family, three girls and three boys, and that Jan and Peter were the middle children. Jan, then, had one older sister and one younger sister; as the middle sister, she would always be comparing each of her sisters to herself (so two people at a time). Peter, on the other hand, had three sisters, so Marcia is appropriately described as his oldest sister.

Copyright 2001 Get It Write. Revised 2023.

The post The Comparative and Superlative Degrees appeared first on Get It Write.

This lack of awareness is not surprising given that strict use of the subjunctive is now quite rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations. Astute communicators, however, understand the grammatical nuances of this mood and can recognize when it is being used correctly (or not!).

A Little Background about the Subjunctive Mood

Before we go any further, bear in mind that mood is distinct from tense (past, present, future, etc.) and voice (passive or active). Those three elements, along with person and number, constitute the five properties of English verbs. 

The concept of mood in English is complex, and the indicative and subjunctive moods are at times conflated. Simply put, an indicative verb makes a factual statement, whereas a subjunctive verb denotes a hypothetical or doubtful statement. Consider these sentences:

1. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company’s retirement fund.
2. I wish that his report were more succinct.
3. We recommend that the trip be postponed until next year.
4. The finance department requests that Marcus submit updated budget projections each month.  

When stating a fact—that is, when using the indicative mood—we would never write “I were,” “report were,” “trip be,” or “Marcus submit.” But these verbs are used appropriately in the examples above because each sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical, conditional, or contrary to fact, and such constructions logically call for the subjunctive mood:

1. The situation is clearly hypothetical: I cannot be you.
2. His report is not, in fact, succinct, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation.
3. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility rather than an actuality.
4. At present, Marcus is not submitting updated budget projections each month, so we use the subjunctive mood to express the mere possibility of his doing so. 

How Do We Express the Subjunctive Mood?

For the present subjunctive mood of most verbs, we use the form of a verb that usually serves as the third-person plural—that is, the form without the s ending—regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural:

• Indicative: The man leaves home every morning for work.
• Subjunctive: The sheriff insisted that the man leave town and never return.

• Indicative: Hilda works from home most days.
• Subjunctive: Her supervisor would prefer that Hilda work in the office.

For the irregular verb to be, we use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless, again, of whether the subject is singular or plural:

• Indicative: Julio was president of his class.
• Subjunctive: If Julio were president of his class, the meetings would be more orderly.

• Indicative: I am studying French in preparation for my trip next fall.
• Subjunctive: If I were to study French, I would be better prepared for my trip next fall. 

The Word If Does Not Always Signal the Subjunctive Mood

Of course, not every clause starting with if requires a verb in the subjunctive mood. Many if statements are simply expressing the conditions necessary for something to be true, and the indicative mood is usually the best fit when these conditions are more likely than not to be met. For example, when we write (or say) “If he arrives [not the subjunctive arrive] on time, we will have dinner before the show,” we are implying that our companion’s punctuality is not only possible but also quite probable.

Sometimes we must understand the context before deciding whether the subjunctive mood is the right choice—as with these two options:

• Indicative: If Smith is chosen as the corporation’s next CEO, she will likely change several controversial hiring practices.
• Subjunctive: If Smith were chosen as the corporation’s next CEO, she would likely change several controversial hiring practices.

If the odds are in Smith’s favor—say, because she is regarded as the most qualified candidate—then we would probably use the indicative If Smith is chosen. But if her chances of landing the position seem remote, we could convey this uncertain, hypothetical outcome by the subjunctive If Smith were chosen.

Knowing when to apply the subjunctive mood can be challenging. Visit Merriam-Webster’s article for more on this topic, including a helpful explanation that underscores the complexity of recognizing when an if statement is truly subjunctive or merely conditional.

TEST YOURSELF

Which of the following sentences require verbs in the subjunctive mood?

1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect.
2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff.
3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer.
4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage.
5. If my playing the bagpipes yesterday before 8 a.m. was annoying, I apologize.
6. If it wasn’t for your help, I’d still be locked out of my car.

ANSWERS

1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect.
2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff.
3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer.
4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage.
5. In this sentence, WAS is correct because the statement is likely to be true.
6. If it WEREN’T for your help, I’d still be locked out of my car.

Copyright 2001 Get It Write. Revised 2023.

The post The Subjunctive Mood appeared first on Get It Write.

If a newspaper is published every two weeks, it is a biweekly or a semimonthly publication?

The answer is not simple.

If we check Webster’s for definitions of each prefix, we find that although semi always means “half,” the prefix bi can mean either “every two” or “twice.” Thus, bimonthly can mean either “every two months” or “twice a month.”

Webster’s warns us that when using the prefix bi, we should give the reader clues about which meaning we intend. And when you are the reader, you should make sure you know which meaning the writer intends.

Before you decide to pay $19.95 for a bimonthly magazine, read the fine print to find out if you will receive six issues a year or twenty-four.

When we mean twice (as in “twice a week” or “twice a month”), we can avoid ambiguity by using the prefix semi (as in semiweekly for “twice a week” and semimonthly for “twice a month”).

Three final notes:

1. We have a special word—biennial—that means “occurring every two years.” The word biannual has only one meaning: “occurring twice a year.” Biannual is thus interchangeable with semiannual, although biannual is less preferable if we wish to avoid any chance of misreading by folks who are not thoroughly familiar with these definitions.
2. Never use a hyphen with either of these prefixes unless the root word begins with the letter i, as in semi-independent, semi-invalid, and semi-infinite.
3. English speakers outside of the United States frequently employ the very useful word fortnight, which unambiguously describes a period of two weeks.

TEST YOURSELF:

Which prefix—bi or semi—would be the better (that is, the less ambiguous) choice for a word to describe each situation below?

1. occurring twice a week
2. occurring every two months
3. occurring every two years
4. occurring twice a year
5. occurring twice a month
6. occurring every two weeks

ANSWERS:

1. semiweekly (Biweekly is acceptable but potentially ambiguous.)
2. bimonthly (Be careful to provide context clues so the reader does not think you mean “twice a month.”)
3. biennial
4. semiannual (Biannual is also correct but potentially ambiguous to readers unfamiliar with the difference between biennial and biannual.)
5. semimonthly (Bimonthly is acceptable but potentially ambiguous.)
6. biweekly (Something that occurs every two weeks happens more often than something that happens twice a month since a year comprises 52 weeks but only 12 months.)

Copyright 2023 Get It Write (rev. from original 2001 publication)

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If we pause to think, we will likely remember that apostrophes make words possessive, not plural. But when we are tired or pressed for time, we might easily insert this mark of punctuation even when its placement is illogical.

So without further ado, here is Get It Write’s refresher guide to making names plural, advice that will come in handy whether you’re signing cards or letters or personalizing mailboxes or welcome mats.

Let’s See What You Already Know

Of the seven examples below, which ones are correct if the writer is sending greetings from more than one person with the same last name?

1. Happy holidays from the Smith’s
2. Happy holidays from the Williams’
3. Happy holidays from the Smiths
4. Happy holidays from the Williamses
5. Happy holidays from the Smiths’
6. Happy holidays from the Williamses’
7. Happy holidays from the Williams family

If you chose 3, 4, and 7, you can probably stop reading now. You’ve got this. But if not, read on.

Examples 1 and 2 are illogical for two reasons:

Plural Is Not the Same as Possessive

First, apostrophes make the names possessive, but when we send greetings, they are from us, not from something we own. We need no apostrophes in such cases, then, because no possession is involved.

The names Smith and Williams would need to be in the possessive case only if the greetings were, say, from Jane Smith’s hamster or John Williams’s goldfish. (And yes, the majority of style manuals advocate the use of the additional s after the apostrophe for most singular nouns in the possessive case—even names that end in s. We address this issue more fully in another post.)

Singular Is Not the Same as Plural

Second, examples 1 and 2 are wrong because the names are rendered as singular possessives. Since the writer intends the greetings to come from all family members, the name must be plural—but not (as we have already noted) possessive.

Given that examples 5 and 6 are both plural and possessive, they, too, are wrong.

But examples 3 and 4, which are both plural but not possessive, are correct (as denoted below):

Singular names: Smith, Williams
Singular possessive names: Smith’s, Williams’s
Plural but not possessive names: Smiths, Williamses
Plural and possessive names: Smiths’, Williamses’

What about example 7, which is also correct? By modifying the noun family with our own family’s name—that is, by treating our family name like any other adjective that could modify the noun family (the happy family, the large family, the Smith family, the Williams family, etc.)—we can skirt the issues of plurality and possession entirely. We simply write our name in its usual (singular, non-possessive) form.

Making Last Names Plural When They End in s (or sh, ch, x, or z)

As shown above, the name Smith becomes plural simply by adding an s to make Smiths.

Pluralizing the name Williams, however, is more challenging because it ends with s in its singular form. Names (and all other nouns, for that matter) that end in sibilants (that is, the sounds s, sh, ch, x, and z) are made plural by the addition of es.

Thus the name Williams in its plural form is Williamses.

Here are more examples of names that end in sibilants and are thus made plural by adding es:

• Happy holidays from the Joneses (plural form of the name Jones)
• Happy holidays from the Spearses (plural form of the name Spears)
• Happy holidays from the Hankses (plural form of the name Hanks)
• Happy holidays from the Dongeses (plural form of the name Donges)
• Happy holidays from the Birches (plural form of the name Birch)
• Happy holidays from the Bushes (plural form of the name Bush)
• Happy holidays from the Foxes (plural form of the name Fox)
• Happy holidays from the Gomezes (plural form of the name Gomez)

It’s Usually Easy to Make Last Names Plural When They Do Not End in Sibilants

The following names do not end in sibilants and are thus made plural simply by adding s (but not an apostrophe!):

• Happy holidays from the Benjamins (plural form of the name Benjamin)
• Happy holidays from the Kirks (plural form of the name Kirk)
• Happy holidays from the Moores (plural form of the name Moore)
• Happy Holidays from the Romanos (plural form of the name Romano)
• Happy holidays from the Berrys (plural form of the name Berry—notice that we do not drop the y and add ies to proper names to make them plural as we do with common nouns)

IMPORTANT FINAL POINT: It’s the Sound, Not the Letter(s), That We Must Consider

Our friends over at editorsmanual.com point out that we must consider the sound of a letter and not just the appearance of certain letters or letter combinations. One example used on that site is the first name Zach, which ends in ch but is pronounced with a k sound. Thus, we make Zach plural simply by adding s: “David had three Zachs in his class.” The same rule applies to last names.

(We have also addressed the more complicated issue of appropriately using apostrophes to make words possessive, including those that end with s.)

Please Share!

Using apostrophes to make last names plural is such a common mistake that it has been widely addressed by such prominent publications as Southern Living, HuffPost, and Business Insider. If you think this Get It Write explanation is clear and useful, please help improve this article’s ranking in online searches by sharing the link on social media and elsewhere. Thank you!

TEST YOURSELF

How would each of the following names be made plural but not possessive?

1. Knox
2. Hill
3. Ingalls
4. Thomas
5. Donges
6. Sawyer
7. Lewis
8. Ayres
9. Brooks
10. Riley
11. Sanchez
12. Fauci
13. Pelosi
14. Koch (pronounced like Coke)

ANSWERS

1. Knoxes
2. Hills
3. Ingallses
4. Thomases
5. Dongeses
6. Sawyers
7. Lewises
8. Ayreses
9. Brookses
10. Rileys
11. Sanchezes
12. Faucis
13. Pelosis
14. Kochs (the ch sounds like a k)

©1999 Get It Write, rev. 2022.

The post Names: Making Them Plural and NOT Possessive appeared first on Get It Write.

That is, these subscribers are convinced that the relative pronoun which is always singular.

In truth, the relative pronouns which, who, and that can be either singular or plural. To know whether a relative pronoun is singular or plural, we must look at its antecedent—the word or words to which it refers. If the antecedent is plural, the pronoun is also plural and takes a plural verb. But if the antecedent is singular, the pronoun is also singular and takes a singular verb.

If I were to write “Which of the following sentences is problematic,” I would imply that only one sentence is problematic; I would be saying, essentially, “Which one of the following sentences is problematic?” That construction works if only one sentence is problematic, but not if more than one test sentence contains an error.

Consider the following sentences:

• Which of the steering committee members is going to draft the proposal?
• Which of the steering committee members are going to draft the proposal?

The first sentence implies that only one member of the steering committee will be drafting the proposal. The second sentence, on the other hand, suggests that two or more committee members will be drafting the proposal together.

Compare these two sentences that use the relative pronoun that:

• Emily picked all the flowers that were growing in the garden.
• Emily picked the one flower that was growing in the garden.

In the first sentence, the antecedent of that is flowers. Since the noun flowers is plural, the pronoun that is plural and takes a plural verb.

In the second sentence, the antecedent of that is the singular noun flower, so the verb must be the singular was.

(I know what some of you are thinking: Yes, we could eliminate the need for that in both sentences by reducing the relative clause to a participial [adjective] phrase: “Emily picked all the flowers growing in the garden” or “Emily picked the one flower growing in the garden.” But here we are focusing on making verbs agree with relative pronouns.)

Here are more examples using the relative pronouns which, who, and that:

• This objective correlates with the central performance goals in our corporate renewal plan, which are targeted toward the realignment of our marketing strategies in Europe and Asia.
• This objective correlates with the central performance goal in our corporate renewal plan, which is targeted toward the realignment of our marketing strategies in Europe and Asia

• The employee and appropriate management must sign the telecommuting agreement form, which outlines the expectations and responsibilities of both the telecommuter and the agency.
• Employees and the appropriate management personnel must sign telecommuting agreement forms, which outline the expectations and responsibilities of both the telecommuters and the agency.

• The five faculty members who are representing the college at the conference in Russia have been invited to a luncheon at the president’s home.
• The faculty member who is representing the college at the conference in Russia has been invited to speak at the president’s luncheon.

• A wood panel that has been treated will resist rotting.
• Wood panels that have been treated will resist rotting.

TEST YOURSELF

1. Every member of the sales team who (is, are) planning to take a vacation this summer must submit a request in writing by May 10.
2. Members of the sales team who (is, are) planning to take a vacation this summer must submit requests in writing by May 10.
3. Which of the twelve verses of the holiday tune (was, were) being sung when the stage lights fell?
4. Which of the children who tried out this morning (has been, have been) selected for the three open positions on the team?

ANSWERS

1. is (The antecedent of who is member, which is singular.)
2. are (The antecedent of who is members, which is plural.)
3. was (Since the lights would have fallen during one specific verse, which is singular; thus, the verb should be singular.)
4. have been (Since three children were selected, the relative pronoun which is, in this sentence, plural.)

Copyright 2005 Get It Write. Revised 2022.

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Let’s Start with a Quiz

Which sentences are punctuated appropriately?

1. The meeting will convene at the Hilton (Riverside, not Hightower).
2. Despite having recently hired two new employees (Johnson and Carlisle,) the director attended the job fair.
3. The results indicate a preference among employees for flexible holidays, (see appendix for survey data) but a new policy has not yet been implemented.
4. The results indicate a preference among employees for flexible holidays. (See appendix for survey data.)
5. The results indicate a preference among employees for flexible holidays (survey data in appendix.)

Commas and Periods Typically Belong with Their Clauses

Sentence 1 is correct: the period goes outside the parenthetical expression to end the entire sentence.

In sentence 2, the comma goes outside the closing parenthesis to signify that the parenthetical phrase belongs with the introductory clause:

Despite having recently hired two new employees (Johnson and Carlisle), the director attended the job fair.

Sentence 3 needs a comma before but because it joins two independent clauses. And since the parenthetical expression happens to come at that juncture, the comma should go after the closing parenthesis:

The results indicate a preference among employees for flexible holidays (see appendix for survey data), but a new policy has not yet been implemented.

What If Parentheses Enclose a Sentence within a Sentence?

When parentheses enclose a complete sentence, the punctuation depends on where it appears in the larger sentence.

The expression “see appendix for survey data” in sentence 3 is a complete sentence, but we do not treat it as such because it’s cocooned within another complete sentence. Therefore, we neither capitalize the first letter of “see” nor include a period after “data.”

Punctuating with Parentheses at the End of a Sentence

The parenthetical expression in sentence 4 is also a complete sentence, and it is correctly punctuated as such. Since it is entirely separate from the previous sentence, it must begin with a capital letter and end with its own appropriate punctuation mark placed inside the closing parenthesis.

When, however, an expression does not constitute a complete sentence but appears at the end of an independent clause, as with sentence 5, we punctuate after the closing parenthesis:

The results indicate a preference among employees for flexible holidays (survey data in appendix).

Punctuating with Static Parentheses

Static parentheses are not subject to the punctuation rules we have discussed so far because they don’t enclose words or phrases; they are used to enclose the letters or numbers delineating listed items, area codes, abbreviations, and so forth:

Leave one line of space between (1) the address and the greeting, (2) the greeting and the body of the letter, and (3) the body and the closing.

Call us at (555) 123-4567 to (a) request a catalog or (b) inquire about returns.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) includes many members of the EU (European Union).

And remember: parentheses almost always travel in pairs. Unless your style manual dictates otherwise, always employ both opening and closing parentheses (even in vertical lists).

TEST YOURSELF

1. The employee’s Social Security number, (or if it is unavailable, the ID number in the database) must be entered for each name.
2. The chair of the board has made recommendations (report to be published next week.)
3. The chair of the board has made recommendations (the report will be published next week.)
4. According to an article in a local newspaper (not the one owned by Knight Ridder), one-third of this state’s colleges and universities exceeded their performance-funding measures this year.

ANSWERS

1. The employee’s Social Security number (or if it is unavailable, the ID number in the database) must be entered for each name. [Note that we need no punctuation this case.]
2. The chair of the board has made recommendations (report to be published next week).
3. The chair of the board has made recommendations. (The report will be published next week.)
4. CORRECT

Copyright 2001 Get It Write. Revised 2022.

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