Month: April 2008

“None of them work.”

Common English Blunders, Number, Pronouns, Verbs

I saw a hilarious TV clip about why this is wrong.

Problem:
The number of the verb does not match the number of the subject.

Explanation:
The pronoun “none” means not one.

The pronoun “one” is singular and takes the third-person, singular form of “work”, which is “works”.

Seeing this, we get “Not one of them works.”

Converting “Not one” back to “None” gives us the solution.

I believe that the problematic sentence is an example of speakers and writers being distracted by the nearness of the verb to the pronoun “them”, which is plural.

Solution:
“None of them works.”

“I would like for them to …”

Common English Blunders, Hypercorrection, Prepositions

My wife heard this on NPR this morning.

Problem:
The preposition “for” is inappropriate here.

Explanation:
Inserting prepositions where they don’t belong is becoming, unfortunately, a common English blunder.

The preposition “for” does not belong in the opening of the sentence that my wife heard.

“I would like” is a weaker way of saying “I want”.

Replacing “would like” with the stronger “want” gives us “I want for them to …”, where “for” certainly does not belong.

This confirms that “for” does not belong in “I would like for them to …”.

My suspicion is that the speaker believed that including “for” made him or her seem more educated — perhaps a form of hypercorrection.

Solution:
“I would like them to …”

“The storage in this kitchen is very minimum.”

Adjectives, Adverbs

I heard this during an HGTV television program a few days ago.

Problem:
The word “very” is meaningless and should not be in the statement, unless the speaker meant to say a different adjective.

Explanation:
The speaker made the statement during a house-makeover show on HGTV.

She was complaining that there was very little storage in the house’s kitchen.

The word “minimum” can be used as an adjective — e.g., to modify the noun “storage” — but the adverb “very” should not be used to modify the adjective “minimum” because the adjective “minimum” means least possible.

The adjectives “minimum” and “unique” already indicate the ultimate in something. Adding “very” to the front of either of these adjectives is meaningless and should not be done.

The speaker might have meant to use “minimal” instead of “minimum” in her statement. The adjective “minimal” would be appropriate because “minimal” can mean barely adequate.

We would then have “The storage in this kitchen is very barely adequate.” as the intended meaning of the statement, which would be appropriate (because “very” may modify “barely adequate”).

Solutions:
“The storage in this kitchen is minimum.”
or
“The storage in this kitchen is very minimal.”