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 [email protected] 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 47
Timely Communications Tips
June 10, 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES
-- EVEN THE PRESDENT SLIPS UP
-- THE VICE PRESIDENT STUMBLES TOO
Don't think that you should crawl under a rock after you've made a mistake with the language. Our top elected officials--who understand better than most how important communication is--make a boo-boo also. |
|
EVEN THE PRESDENT SLIPS UP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of course I refer to Barack Obama, and not
George Bush, who, responding to a question at
the end of his term, declared that he had
never made a mistake.So here is President Obama at Hampton University's commencement. He said that the nation must "offer every single child in this country an education that will make them competitive in our knowledge economy." His speechwriter should have realized that the subject, "child," requires the singular pronoun, "him" or "her," referring to one person rather than many. No single child can eat "their" cake or obey "their" parents or fail "their" test. He or she cannot be a they. Maybe the speechwriter wanted to be politically correct and was afraid to use "his/her"--that awful combination. So why not use "her" rather than "him"?
|
|
THE VICE PRESIDENT STUMBLES TOO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vice President Joseph Biden spoke at the
ceremony after the coal miners' disaster. He
said that the nation would come to account
for the safety conditions that led to the
disaster."Certainly," he maintained, "no one should have to sacrifice their life for their livelihood." I'm sure that he and the president don't use the same speechwriter. But the error is similar. The subject is singular, but the pronoun is plural. Correctly, it should be that no one should have to sacrifice "his" life for "his" livelihood." Or to keep the plural form, "People" or "miners" should not have to sacrifice "their" lives.
Yours sincerely,
|
|
Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
[email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|