Last month when I announced the StepUP monthly support group on Facebook, I wrote:
If you're called to be a writer and/or speaker, Shona Neff & myself (aka Sho and Sho) are having a writers/speakers online support group on Tuesday, Aug 2 @9pm EST. Open forum. No fees. No agendas. Just support & discussion. Come on over and join us.
The following day, I received a gracious private message explaining how I misused a pronoun. And she was right.
Do you see it?
Shona Neff and myself. . . really? I thought it sounded good, but it is grammatically incorrect. It should read, "Shona Neff and I are having. . ."
Often times when writing, we write the way we speak. And I don't know about you, but I am one of the most grammatically incorrect speakers (that's a whole other post). It's an area where I'm a work in progress.
In the process of desiring to get the words into a document, we just type without thinking about grammar. And we should or the creative process may be inhibited. However, we do need to review and edit what we write (even when we post on Facebook so we can be a good example).
Here are a few other words that may give us some grammatical grief.
Already or All Ready?
Already means "by this or that time."
All ready means everyone is ready. If you can insert words in between the words "all" and "ready" you use the two words.
We were all [set, packed, and] ready to leave when we noticed that Sarah had already left.
Hanged or Hung?
These two are the past participle of the verb hang. Which one is the correct one to use?
Once you realize this one, it will be easy to remember. The correct use for most uses is hung.
"A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts." ~~Joshua Reynolds
We use hung to refer to how we hang pictures. But when referring to a person, the correct form is hanged.
In the Old West, outlaws were hanged.
Dragged or Drug?
Have you drug the chair across the room?
What?
Drag is a regular verb, so adding the -ed (-ged) is the appropriate form of the verb. So the above sentence should read, "Have you dragged the chair across the room?"
We can remember drug is most often related to illegal substances or pharmaceuticals. Therefore, we should "Just Say No!" -- even in our writing.
Words are often misused because we don't understand them. Let's continue to learn from one another.
What words have you misused and learned how to use properly?
©2011 Shonda Savage Whitworth
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