Several weeks ago when I had my interview with SRA, the interviewer asked me what my grammar pet peeve is.
I couldn't think of one.
I must have just been out of practice, because they're all coming back to me now! I wanted to post the latest two, but when I thought about it, they can probably be lumped into one category: misusing pronouns (specifically, I, me, my, and myself).
They are all personal pronouns, but each is a different type of pronoun. Listen carefully. Here are the rules:
- "I is a subjective pronoun. It should only be used as the subject of a sentence. (Subject = "doer" of the action) Ex: "I wanted to kick this editor today." or "Maureen and I are badass proofing machines."
- "Me" is an objective pronoun. It should only be used as the object of a sentence. (Object = receiver of the action) Ex: "She stuck me with a ridiculous deadline." or "Give the chapters to Maureen or to me."
- "My" is a possessive pronoun. It should be used to indicate possession or ownership. Ex: "Give me my red pen before I kick you."
Okay, now this is where it gets tricky…
- "Myself" is a reflexive pronoun. It should also be used as the object of a sentence, but ONLY when the subject (“doer” of the action) and the object (receiver of the action) refer to the same person. Ex: “I accidentally wrote on myself with my red pen.”
The two biggest violations of this rule (in my anal opinion) are as follows:
- When someone uses “myself” when they should use “me.” Ex: “If you have a question, ask Suzie or myself.” No, no, no! It should be “…ask Suzie or me.” Another famous boo-boo is to say “…ask Suzie or I.” This is also wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
- When someone uses “I” when they should use “my.” Ex: “The copies are on Jen and I’s desk.” Imagine nails on a chalkboard. Now you know how I feel. If you and Jen share the desk, it should be “The copies are on Jen’s and my desk.” Or, if that feels too weird for you, just say “my desk.” Screw Jen. Or, if you don’t want to screw Jen, say “our desk.” But if you say “Jen and I’s,” I will have to personally drive to your house and give you a Rudolph nose with my red pen. I mean it.
4 comments:
You're scary. And you're talking about work on your free time. Stop it.
YIKES!! I'd better mind more than my p's and q's.
:P
Oh, grammar sister, I am SO with you on that! I have a co-worker who CONSTANTLY butchers correct "myself" and "I" usage and it's driving me insane--my tongue is bloody from biting it so much to keep from correcting her. May I PLEEEEASE borrow your red pen?!!
I'm SUCH a nerd... ;-)
I am not talking about work! I am talking about grammar. I talked about grammar in my free time long before I was a full-time publishing wench.
Sure, Dena, any time. Compared to my college days, I'm a lot less anal than I used to be about casual grammar mistakes in conversation (mostly because someone called me out on acting snobbish and elitist), and they honestly don't bother me as much anymore....But I recently saw "I's" in an email and it made me want to scratch out my eyeballs. I just had to rant.
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