Pronouns

“… a cause larger than yourselves.”

Common English Blunders, Pronouns

I heard this in a high-school commencement speech by President Bush over the weekend.

Problem:
The President used the wrong pronoun here.

Explanation:
This was part of a sentence that went along the lines of “I want you to spend your lives devoted to a cause larger than yourselves.”

The pronoun “yourselves” is a plural, second-person pronoun.

It should be used in one of two ways:

  • reflexively: “You can do it yourselves.”
  • for emphasis: “a group petition that you yourselves submitted”

Its use in the President’s speech followed neither of these patterns.

Instead, “a cause larger than yourselves” follows the pattern of “an X larger than Y” — for which “Y” is neither reflexive nor inserted for emphasis.

Solution:
“… a cause larger than you.”

“She makes more than him.”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Pronouns

I heard a caller say this yesterday on “The Dave Ramsey Show” radio program.

Problem:
The pronoun “him” should not go after “more than” in this sentence.

Explanation:
This sentence is of the form “She makes more than X.”, where ‘X’ defines some amount of money (and optionally when).

The pronoun “him” is not a suitable substitution for ‘X’ because “him” does not define some amount of money.

Suitable substitutions for ‘X’ include:

  • “$100,000”;
  • “$50,000 annually”;
  • “what he makes”.

I believe that the speaker’s use of “him” in place of “what he makes” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It’s simpler to say one monosyllabic pronoun than to say three words.

Solution:
“She makes more than what he makes.”

“Skype — social networking at it’s best”

Apostrophes, Common English Blunders, Contractions, Possessives, Pronouns

I got this in an email message from Skype a couple of days ago.

Problem:
A contraction-forming apostrophe appears where it should not.

Explanation:
The word “it’s” is a contraction of “it is”; the apostrophe signifies the dropping of a letter (the “i” in “is”).

The required word is “its” (not “it’s”) because “its” is the possessive form of “it” (which refers to “Skype”).

Confusing “it’s” and “its” is a common English blunder.

A simple way to remember that “its” is the possessive form of “it” — a third-person pronoun — is to recognize that “his” is the possessive form of “he” — another third-person pronoun — and that neither “his” nor “its” has a possessive apostrophe.

Solution:
“Skype — social networking at its best”