You are receiving this email from The Beckham Publications Group Inc because you purchased a product/service or subscribed on our website. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add barry@beckhamhouse.com to your address book today. If you haven't done so already, click to confirm your interest in receiving email campaigns from us.
 
You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Better English 101
Tips For Communicating Better
Vol I, No. 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue
-- ONE AND NONE ARE SINGULAR
-- PRONOUNS MUST AGREE
-- SEEN AND HEARD RECENTLY
-- TIP OF THE DAY

More Tips, A Little Controversy

Here are some more tips and techniques to help you communicate better. Later I suggest that we could just use "she" or "her" as the preferred singular pronoun.

ONE AND NONE ARE SINGULAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Making certain that the verb agrees with the subject can be challenging. Some of the most common errors result when we don?t pay attention to subject-verb agreement. We just don?t recognize that the subject is really the subject.

This week in the NYT, Motoko Rich, reviewing a mystery novel, writes, "But when he showed it to a friend, an avid reader of historical novels, she balked when she learned none of the details were accurate."

Corrected, it should read, "none of the details was accurate" because "none" is a singular subject. We assume mistakenly that the subject is "details." A similar error occurs with the word "one," as in this sentence: "Not one of them were members of the team." It should be "was a member" because the subject is "one" and not "members."

Watch your verbs when you use "none," "one," "either," "neither." They are singular subjects.


PRONOUNS MUST AGREE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Along similar lines, a pronoun must agree with its antecedent too. A singular antecedent or noun needs a singular pronoun. We commonly misuse a number of pronoun antecedents by incorrectly making them plurals when they should be singular. Remember that a body is one person; therefore, "anybody" and "somebody" needs singular verbs and singular pronouns.

1. In this dispatch, we read, "Philip Morris had argued that the case should never have been certified as a class but should have required each individual smoker to prove their case separately."

A smoker is one person, so it should read, "each individual smoker to prove his case separately." You could even substitute "her" for ?his.? What about the often-used ?his/her" and "he or she"? I dislike them. It depends on how formal you want to be.

If you want to be politically correct, why not use "her" instead of "his." Or switch back and forth, in longer pieces, between "his" and "her." Finally, you could change "smoker" to "smokers" and use the plural pronoun form?"smokers prove their case."

2. Here?s Steve Forbes, referring to the sale of his magazine: "No one is the master of their own universe. Time and circumstances change."

Corrected: "No one is the master of his own universe."

Can you imagine the reaction if we all substituted "her" for "him" whenever the antecedent was "anybody," "someone," "none," or "either?" Well, it would be correct.

3. Finally, here?s Circuit City?s Web site, declaring incorrectly, "Find everything your student needs to create their place."


SEEN AND HEARD RECENTLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 1. Senator Hillary Clinton, lambasting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a hearing: "This is not 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented many assurances that have frankly proven to be unfulfilled."

Corrected, the past participle of to prove is "proved," not "proven." This might rank among the 10 most frequently made errors.

2. At the Siemens Web site, we are told: "If you find that your ActiveSync fails after your finish upgrading, please restart your PC again."

Corrected, "after you?re finished." Watch out for misusing "your" for "you?re." Even better, if you?re a billion-dollar corporation, hire a competent writer to produce your Web site copy.

3. On the back jacket cover of Patricia Jones? novel, "Red on a Rose," we are told, "Jones is the author of one previous novel, ?Passing.?" Is "previous" necessary?


TIP OF THE DAY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 There was something remarkable about the telephone voice of Kathleen at Gorham Printing in Rochester, Washington. She was smiling. How did I know this? Her tone was so soothing and cheery, so upbeat, I could almost see her bright eyes and friendly lips. She reminded me of the cheerful voices you hear on those automatic messages, like Julie at Amtrak. When Julie?s sweet voice says, "Okay, let me see if I can help," my comfort level rises. What a smile!

How does your voice sound on the phone? Does its tone relax your caller? Are you friendly? Are you smiling? Have you considered that a frown or a smile can be reflected in your voice, and that the tone itself will send an immediate message to the person you are speaking with?

Now, having answered the phone from a salesperson while writing this paragraph, I noticed that he did all the talking?and fast. Do you talk more than you listen? Do you talk so fast that you can?t be interrupted? Do you mumble? Have you considered that if you are guilty of any of these flaws that the speaker won?t tell you? But she will make a note to herself that you talked too fast, or had a terrible accent, or talked too much.



Best wishes,
Barry Beckham

Special Pre-Release of New Novel



Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Email Marketing by