Be a Keeper of the Language

If you took Language Skills for Journalists from me, you know that I offer a series of "Grammar Hints of the Week," the first of which is "Be a keeper of the language."

By that, I mean that you, as a communication expert, need to protect the language we use to communicate with one another. You need to know the rules of grammar, apply them to your own work, and use them to teach others how to communicate better.

Last week I gave the students in my LSJ class the status of their grades. Most are failing. So I asked them to write a paper describing what they plan to do to improve their grades, learn the material and incorporate what they learn into their lives.

The students wrote of poor study habits, procrastination, not asking questions in class when they don't understand something and not taking the course seriously. Sound familiar?

The students promised to study grammar 30 minutes to 2 hours EVERY NIGHT (!), to read and study the textbook and AP stylebook, to complete online quizzes before the class in which we discuss the relevant material, and to pay more attention to the Grammar Hints of the Week. Sounds good. We'll see what happens on the next assignment.

Let me share a few of my grammar hints with you in hopes that they may help improve your writing as well.

"Identify the subject, and then make the verb agree."
Subject-verb agreement problems are some of the most common I find in student writing. Look at this sentence:

The bowl of cherries [is/are] on the table.

So, what is the subject? Cherries? No. Bowl? Yes. "The bowl ... is on the table."

How about this sentence:

Susan, as well as her neighbors, [love/loves] "Desperate Housewives."

What is the subject? Susan and her neighbors? No. Susan? Yes. "Susan ... loves 'Desperate Housewives.'"

Notice that there's a space before and after the ellipsis (...) and that the period ALWAYS is placed INSIDE the end quotation mark (commas are, too).

Use a comma between independent clauses in a compound sentence.
First of all, what do we mean by a "compound sentence"? Basically, it's two sentences (independent clauses) joined by a coordinating conjunction, one of the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet or so). Here's what one looks like:

The best things in life are free, but some pretty nice things cost money.

Don't use apostrophes to create plurals.
Apostrophes are used primarily to show possession. For example, "Jean's book" means that the book belongs to Jean. And "Smith's house" means that the house belongs to one person named Smith.

But I often see mistakes such as "jean's" (meant to refer to the article of clothing) or "Smith's" (meant to refer to the Smith family).

There is one exception to this rule: Use an apostrophe to create plural letters (e.g., A's, B's and C's).

Did you notice the colon after "There is one exception to this rule," the capital letter in "Use," and the comma after "e.g."?

The first sentence is closely related to and introduces the next sentence. Therefore, use a colon to signal the reader that you're going to tell them the "exception to this rule." Because "Use" introduces a complete sentence, capitalize the "U."

But when the information that follows the colon is NOT a complete sentence, do not capitalize the first letter of the next word. Here's what I mean:

The answer is clear: plastics.

The abbreviation "e.g." means "for example." It means you are including SOME of the possible options. Here's what I mean:

Several of my students (e.g., Alyssa, Megan, Martice and Branden) went to Power Shift.

The abbreviation "i.e." means "that is." It means you are including ALL of the possible options. Here's an example:


My PR colleagues (i.e., Professor Kinchlow and Dr. Grable) were hired in August 2008.

I hope you decide to be a keeper of the language, and I hope these grammar hints help you achieve that goal.