Bronte Follower: Blog

I apologize for the tardiness in uploading this chapter. However, work had me busier than usual and my muse took a mini-vacation. No guarantees that she'll not take another while we wait for either the axe to fall or to get a reprieve.

in the queue.

Since I decided to fix a couple of typos and wordsmith a couple bits, I decided to add a very minor bit of text to Chapter 52. It is in the queue now.

Pronoun: any of a small set of words in a language that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context.

Pop this phrase into your browser to get definition of "pronoun' and presentation of subject and object forms of the most-common pronouns: definition of pronoun by merriam webster

The misuse of pronouns is one of the most pervasive of grammatical mistakes in amateur writing, perhaps more frequent than even mis-spelling and word-choice errors (such as with homophones; see other blog posts). Even popular and long-established amateur or semi-professional authors (on SOL and other venues) have problems of this vein. To me, it's both understandable and incomprehensible.

I find it somewhat understandable because pronoun use is dependent upon both number (singular vs. plural) and whether its use is as a subject or as an object; no other nouns change their form from subject to object. As example, a bench is a bench is a bench, whether the bench is red or I sat on the bench.

I find it incomprehensible, because pronouns and their use are taught in elementary school in the US.

I find it understandable, because it seems that a large percentage of American native-English-speakers seem to have little clue about pronoun use resulting in colloquial incorrectness in their use perpetuating through families, cliques, and other subsets of society.

I find it incomprehensible, because it's neither rocket science nor brain surgery.

In poetry (lyrics being a subset of poetry; see title), authors are "permitted" wide latitude in abusing "rules" of English grammar, hence the term "poetic license." However, unless writing dialogue of ignorant speakers, authors really ought to know of and avoid the two pitfalls that I see and hear most frequently when it comes to pronoun use. The line of a Paul Simon song referenced in this post's title illustrates both of those pitfalls.

One pitfall is nearly always due to compound subjects or compound objects, that is having a pronoun and some other noun or pronoun or nouns or pronouns working in concert as the subject or object of a verb or as the object of a preposition.

Subject example: Jenny and I went to the store. "Jenny" and "I," together, form the subject of the verb "went." That is, "Jenny and I" performed the action of the sentence.

Object example: The gym teacher gave the ball to Jenny and me. "Jenny" and "me," together, form the object of the preposition "to."

It is considered polite to reference oneself LAST in any form of compound subject or object.

Subject example: "Jenny and I went to the store," not "I and Jenny went to the store.

Object example: "The principal saw Jenny, Patrick, the Thompson twins, Mom, and me," not "The principal saw me, Jenny, Patrick, the Thompson twins, and Mom," or any other permutation of the six people that are the object of the verb "saw" (those six people "received" the action of the sentence or were acted upon).

The second pitfall is most common as part of compound subjects or objects, but the mistake is not restricted to such, and is, in my estimation, the most frequent cause of error in pronoun use. That error is using an object pronoun, such as "me," in a compound subject, resulting in "Jenny and me went to the store." That is WRONG. It matters not whether the subject is simple or compound, to be correct, one ALWAYS uses a subject pronoun as the subject of a verb. Just as one wouldn't or shouldn't write, "Me went to the store," one shouldn't write, "Jenny and me went to the store," as "me" is an object pronoun.

While some pronouns are both subject pronouns and object pronouns (such as "you"), the use of pronouns in most situations is dependent upon whether one is using the pronoun or pronouns as subjects or as objects.

Example subject pronouns: I, she, he, they

Example object pronouns: me, her, him, them

I am aware that virtually all of the readers of this last bit of this post are probably grammar nazis like myself, but I've been known to tilt at the odd windmill.

A few of these I just saw for the first time in in a single old SOL story:

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click - a sound made by two hard objects coming into contact quickly

clique - a small group of people with shared interests

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rode - past tense of verb 'ride'

road - a wide path leading from a place to another, particularly for vehicles

staid - sedate, unadventurous (adjective)

stayed - past tense of verb 'stay'

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stealing - present participle of verb 'steal' - taking without permission; departing surreptitiously (as in, 'stealing away in the dead of night)

steeling - present participle of verb 'steel' - preparing to face difficulty

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threw - past tense of verb 'throw'

through - preposition, adverb - in one side and out the other; continuing in time

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surreptitious - kept secret, particularly is socially unacceptable

suspicious - cautious distrust

As in, 'I was suspicious that they were having a surreptitious affair.'