Minced Oath Fail

A minced oath is a mild substitute for a nastier profanity. Myself, I avoid both the real thing and the mild version.

I say what I actually mean. Consequently, my English is a pretty good means of communication.

Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed

Maybe the title should be “Whom and Who.” That’s the order in our example sentence:

Naipaul is best understood as an inquiline, as a man whom the English have tried to absorb, but a man who has clung to displacement like a floating buoy.”

The Voyage in — A Way in the World by V.S. Naipaul; The New Republic (Washington, DC); Jun 13, 1994.

I got the sentence from wordsmith.org, a site that produces A Word A Day, and I highly recommend that you subscribe.

• Look at the “whom.” The subject is “the English,” so “whom” is the direct object. (Rearrange it: The English tried to absorb him.”)
• Now look at the “who.” “Who” is the subject. “Who” did the clinging.

Both usages are correct. Good for them.

Since you might be curious, shamelessly copied from Wikipedia:

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul TC, most commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, and informally, Vidia Naipaul, was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English.  Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Prize, Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society

First the puzzle: Is the spider’s sentence correct?

Okay, “all” here means he dreams about only one thing. That’s singular, right? So the verb should be “is,” right?

Then why does “is” sound wrong, and “are” sound right? Think about it before you read the next paragraph.

The reason is called attraction. It’s a legitimate rule in Latin, but not in English, though sometimes it happens. Attraction is when you base the form of a word to agree with the closest candidate (even if it’s incorrect). And “flies” is closer to the verb than the subject is.

The comic is about a little girl who’s afraid of her grandmother’s big dog…

As you can see, the change in punctuation makes a difference. When you write, think about the punctuation!

Okay, now a test. How should you punctuate the labels?

I’ve mentioned this topic in the past, but a little reminder about the incorrect use of “literally” is a good thing, I think.