Grammar geeks

I am a self-professed grammar geek. As a writer and communication specialist, that's a good skill to possess; however, I think I sometimes drive others crazy with my fastidious attention to the English language.

I think Michael sometimes chuckles as I correct announcers on the radio. I listen to a local talk radio show as I get ready for work in the morning. The radio personality regularly uses the word myself incorrectly and I'll verbally correct him as though the air waves were two-way communication devices.

"Give Ryan or myself a call," he'll announce. Using myself does not make the conversation more polite, although I know many people incorrectly believe so.

If you removed John from the sentence, it would be, "Give myself a call," which most people can identify as incorrect. But adding an extra person somehow causes confusion.

"Give the book to mom or myself," is wrong too. Remove mom and the sentence sounds dumb. Give the book to me.

Unless someone is doing something for him or herself,

"I sent myself an email."
"I made the sandwich for myself."

the correct word is I or me, as in:

John and I sailed the boat around the bay.
Mary talked to Larry and me.

I'm straight laced with my grammar rules too. I abhor written sentences that end in a preposition (for, by, to, above, beneath, about, across, after, on, etc.), it drives me crazy when the wrong form of its/it's is used and I shudder when people use apostrophes incorrectly.

No, you don't add an apostrophe to make a noun plural. It's not apostrophe's, horse's or monkey's. Even when the word is an acronym, it's still just an s, as in TVs, DVDs, RRSPs and CDs.

I was shocked when I went to the opening of the new downtown London library and discovered its signs used the lowly little apostrophe incorrectly. Sigh.

While we don't use who and whom regularly in normal conversation, the written language really should continue to make a distinction. There's even an easy rule to follow. If you can answer the question with he or she, the word should be who. If him or her is the answer, use whom.

Who ate the pie? [He ate the pie.]

To whom are you giving that piece of apple pie? [It's for her.]

And no, it's not Who are you giving that piece of apple pie to? because the correct word is whom and the sentence should not end in the dreaded proposition!

Whom should you contact to get your own piece of pie? [Contact him to get a freshly baked piece of yummy pie.]

And don't even get me started with than and then, their, they're and there or compliment and complement.

The English language is crazy. Yes, I realize that I too am slightly crazy with my attention to detail. But someone has to do it. I feel slightly better because I'm not alone in my strident attempts to use proper grammar. I'm surrounded by fellow grammar geeks at London Life. If you can believe it, we even have grammar discussions. We regularly confer with our dictionaries and style guides. We love a well-written sentence.

We are geeks who believe we can improve the world, one apostrophe, comma or sentence at a time.

Tina