Summer Grammar Lesson: Who and Whom

I apologize for asking you to think during the summer, but I promise this one will be easy AND make you instantly sound smarter. Using the correct form of who and whom in language is something that I've always struggled with. I would always get the two confused, and I could never remember the tricks to getting it right. 


I recently purchased The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need, and it did a great job of setting me straight for good. I thought I'd pass on the enlightenment. First I'll explain the logic behind the rule, then I'll give you an easy trick to help you remember which to use when speaking/writing.


The Rule: 
Use who when what you're referring to is the subject of the clause you're working with. Example: Who is coming to dinner? Who is the subject and is coming is the verb.
Use whom when what you're referring to is an object (or an additional part of the sentence that helps it make sense). Example: Whom were you talking to last night? Here, you is the subject and were talking is the verb.


The Trick:
First, look at the sentence or clause that contains the who/whom in question. 


She was concerned with who would be her new boss.


Then, rearrange the clause to form a statement instead of a question (if necessary). 


No rearranging necessary here.


Next, replace the who/whom with he or him. 


He/Him would be her new boss.


If it makes sense to use he, the correct form is who. If it makes sense to use him, the correct form is whom. You can remember this because both hiM and whoM contain M's.


Hopefully this has helped you as much as it has helped me. Good luck!

Grammar Lesson: Possession, Part 1

OK, this lesson has multiple parts because it's a complicated one. However, I'm SURE everyone can catch on with a little attention and thought. One of the many uses of the apostrophe is to show possession. By possession I mean ownership. For example: the dog's tail (tail belongs to the dog); the chair's cushion (cushion belongs to or is part of the chair); Landen's dress (dress belongs to Landen). You get the point, right? 


Here's the lesson -


1. If you have a singular (one) object/person/animal/entity/etc owning or possessing something, you use an 's to show that ownership.

• Example: The dog's fur was short.

2. If you have a plural (more than one) group of objects/people/animals/entities/etc owning or possessing something, you add an apostrophe after the s.

• Example: The dogs' tails were wagging. (Here we have multiple dogs, so the s has already been added in order to make it plural. In order to show possession, we have to add the apostrophe after.)
• Note: This rule is for "regular" plural words. By regular I mean words that you add an s to in order to make them plural...dogs, toys, chairs. Irregular plural words are handled differently (ex. children, women, etc.) We'll get to the irregular ones later.

3. If there is no ownership or possession and you are ONLY talking about multiple/plural objects/people/animals/entities/etc, then PLEASE do not use an apostrophe.

• Example: The dogs ate Kibbles 'n Bits for dinner. (Here we're just talking about multiple dogs. They aren't owning anything. So adding an apostrophe here (dog's or dogs') would be incorrect not to mention drive me crazy.)

Let's make sure we're using those apostrophes correctly, then we'll move on to more complicated situations.... :)

Grammar Lesson: You're and Your

I'm a high school English teacher. In my profession I see every grammar error under the sun when grading 60+ sophomores' essays. Year after year I see the same mistakes, and that's fine. I get that sophomores are still learning the rules of writing. However, there are a few errors that drive me absolutely bonkers. It's the easy mistakes that are very simple to avoid. The problem is that I see these mistakes made by adults who have graduated from high school and, in many cases, even higher education. My Facebook news feed often makes me cringe as I see these errors being made by professionals, college graduates, and even fellow teachers! All it takes is a functioning brain and some attention to detail. So the first of these silly errors that I will attempt to correct is the o-so-problematic confusion between you're and your.


You're stands for YOU ARE. If you can replace the word your/you're in your sentence with the words YOU and ARE, you will use the word "you're".

• Example: You're the best tap dancer I've ever seen. (You are the best tap dancer I've ever seen.)
• WRONG: Your the best tap dancer I've ever seen. This doesn't make sense because the sentence doesn't even have a verb.

If you cannot replace the word your/you're in your sentence with the words YOU and ARE, you must use the word "your". 

• Your is a pronoun. 
• Example: Your house smells delightful.
• WRONG: You're house smells delightful. This would read: You are house smells delightful. Obviously incorrect.

Hopefully this helps clear some things up out there. Maybe you've made this mistake in the past because you just weren't sure which was correct, and now you know! I'm guessing you've never had it broken down for you in such easy terms before or maybe you learned it a long time ago. That's okay. Now you'll never make this pesky mistake again.