The use of "who" and "whom" made simple

The pronouns who and whom are frequently confused. Fortunately, there are easy ways to remember the appropriate uses of each. Who is the doer of the action or the subject of the sentence and whom is the receiver of the action or the object of the sentence.

Another way to check the correct use of whom is to substitute him or her in its place. If him or her makes sense then whom is the correct choice.

For example:

“John is the student whom I am working with.” I am working with him not I am working with he (he would not make sense) so whom is the correct choice.

To check the correct use of who in a sentence, try substituting he or she.

For example:

“Professor Elliot is the man who is teaching this class.” He is teaching this class not him is teaching this class (him would not make sense) so who is the correct choice in this sentence.

What is National Grammar Day?

It has come and gone this year but until now I had never heard of National Grammar Day. Apparently, March 4th has been designated by The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG) as National Grammar Day. It is attracting a great deal of attention with bloggers and grammar-lovers everywhere. There are festive t-shirts, learning materials, and free e-cards to commemorate the the occasion. You can join the following on Twitter and even listen to a song honoring March 4th and cleverly entitled "March Forth". The video is a joint effort by Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) and Erika Paul Carlson to promote the holiday and good grammar.




So next year how will you mark the occasion? If you're not sure, here are a few celebratory ideas from SPOGG:


1. Speak well
2. Write well
3. Kindly correct "catastrophic apostrophes"
4. Send friendly e-mails to newscasters who use "Between you and I"
5. Wear a National Grammar Day T-shirt

Until then, join SPOGG and help promote good grammar!

Remember Saturday morning cartoons?

I am probably dating myself with this post, but when I was a kid I really loved Saturday morning cartoons. They were something I looked forward to after a long week of school. Before the cartoons, I also remember watching the Schoolhouse Rock videos. They were Emmy-Award winning short videos that featured basic concepts of grammar, science and even math. The music was so catchy that I can still remember the lyrics in "Conjunction Junction" and "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here". I even recall learning a thing or two about grammar and the different parts of speech.

My own children have no idea about the novelty of watching cartoons only one morning a week or that the commercial breaks were educational. I searched around to give them an idea of what they were missing. I found some of the music and videos on YouTube. Here is one that brings back fond memories:



Grammar rules set to music, what a concept. ABC should bring back Schoolhouse Rock. How about cartoons only on Saturday mornings too?