Writing for Business - A Whatis.com Blog » pronoun/noun order http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business Is your grammar as good as your code? Thu, 23 May 2013 20:41:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Sometimes the best edit is a rewrite http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/sometimes-the-best-edit-is-a-rewrite/ http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/sometimes-the-best-edit-is-a-rewrite/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:27:21 +0000 Ivy Wigmore http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/?p=2086 Which is correct?
I’d like to offer __________ to manage the project.

a. myself and Bob
b. Bob and myself
c. neither of the above


Answer: c.

Explanation:
Site director Margaret Rouse (@WhatIsDotCom) offered this question from her voluminous inbox. Names and details have been changed to protect the guilty, but the sentence is similar. It’s awkward! Not really incorrect, but unless you have to cleave to the original sentence structure, it’s better to simplify and improve.

Here’s what Peggy suggests: “I’d like to manage the project with Bob.” That’s better — clear and straightforward.

If we were, for some reason, constrained to keep the sentence as close as possible to the original, b. would be the correct choice because that’s the correct pronoun order. (See more about pronoun order here.)

Follow me on Twitter @tao_of_grammar

]]> http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/sometimes-the-best-edit-is-a-rewrite/feed/ 0 How overcorrection leads to pronoun problems http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/another-wrinkle-with-pronouns/ http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/another-wrinkle-with-pronouns/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:18:38 +0000 Ivy Wigmore http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/?p=1738 Which is correct?

“I’ve saved the folder to Dropbox and will send the link to _________.”

a. he and Charles

b. him and Charles

c. Charles and he

d. Charles and him

Answer: b.

Explanation:

Him is the correct pronoun here, because it’s the object, not the subject. To simplify, just take Charles out of the equation. Would you ever say “I’ll send the link to he”? No, I didn’t think so.

Nevertheless, this is one mistake I hear well-educated people making very frequently. Probably the same overcorrection (AKA incorrection) that makes them use I when they should use me.

The pronoun order thing? Well, that’s just a grammar rule. Pronouns — all but I and me — precede nouns in a compound subject or object. You know — when more than one person does something or has something done to them.

@GrammarGirl Mignon Fogarty covers this one here.

Follow me on Twitter @tao_of_grammar

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