Good Grammar

Do You Stumble over Me, Myself, or I When You Speak?

July 22, 2018 | Marjorie Saulson

When it comes to effective public speaking, grammar is important, yet I sometimes hear even the most accomplished presenters pause a little uncertainly before coming out with one of the three pronouns me, myself, or I.

Unfortunately, it’s often the wrong one.

Could that person sometimes be you?

Are you tired of wondering if you are using me, myself, or I correctly when you are talking with someone or making a presentation or speech?

Check out the video I am sharing on this page to find out some easy grammar tricks to know which word to use in which situation.

Once you know these tricks, you will be able to communicate with calm confidence.

You can then rest assured that those of your listeners who also know these tricks, will be impressed by your proper usage of these very commonly misused, yet often necessary, words.

P.S. When I listened to the video a second time, I heard myself say theirselves instead of themselves. OOPS! Maybe I’ll be perfect next month.

Me, Myself, or I – Do You Suffer from Pronoun Puzzlement?

July 9, 2017 | Marjorie Saulson

Do you sometimes catch yourself wondering if you are messing up the usage of me, myself or I and not using these words correctly?

Or do you sometimes hear someone else using one of those words; and somehow their usage doesn’t sound right to you, but you’re not sure who is right, you or that person?

Not to worry! The Grammar Nerd is here to rescue you from the Problem of Pronoun Puzzlement; so that you can use pronouns correctly and confidently in both your writing and speaking, and come across as the educated and authoritative person you really are.

Let’s get rid of the myself Pronoun Puzzle first.

Myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves are all reflexive pronouns. In other words, they are only used when reflecting or referring back to the subject of the sentence. For example:

I was so tired that I had to drag myself out of bed this morning.
Take good care of yourself. (The word you is understood as this is an imperative or command.)
They have good reason to be proud of themselves.

Beware these two common examples of when reflexive pronouns are incorrectly used, as they do NOT reflect back to the subject of the sentence:

Robin and myself are really glad to see you. (Correct usage: Robin and I are really glad to see you.)
Please get back to John and myself. (Correct usage: Please get back to John and me.)

Clearing up the I and me Pronoun Puzzle.

The word I is a subject pronoun, in other words, it is the subject of a verb.

Examples: I go there often. I read a lot. I understood what you said.

The word me is an object pronoun, in other words, it is the object of a verb or a preposition.

Examples: John is taking me to the movies. Sally is coming with me.

The problem is not with simple sentences like these so much as when you need to combine the pronoun I or me with a proper noun, such as a name.

There is a simple trick to figure out which pronoun to use. Simply remove the person’s name and see if the remaining pronoun sounds correct to you.

For example, check out these sentences using the trick I just mentioned.

John and me are going to the movies. (Or even worse: Me and John are going to the movies.)
- How does this sound to you? Me am going to the movies.
- What sounds, and is, right instead: I am going to the movies. John and I are going to the movies.
Sally is taking John and I to the movies.
- How does this sound to you? Sally is taking I to the movies.
- What sounds, and is, right instead: Sally is taking me to the movies. Sally is taking John and me to the movies.

These same rules and tricks apply to the combinations of he, him himself; she, her, herself; we, us, ourselves; and they, them, themselves. Since the word you is both a subject and object pronoun, and both singular and plural; the only thing you have to watch out for are those tricky reflexives, yourself and yourselves.

Please let me know if the explanation and tricks I have shared with you have cleared up the Problem of Pronoun Puzzlement for you. After all, as I like to maintain, Good grammar is good business.

Insure? Ensure? Not Sure?

January 26, 2016 | Marjorie Saulson

In previous blog posts, I have stated my firm belief that good grammar is good business; and that bad grammar detracts from your authority and expert status.

However, it is not only bad grammar that can trip us up. Incorrect word usage can have the same deleterious effect on our reputation.

One word that is often misused is the word insure. People confuse it with the word ensure, and use the former word when the meaning of the latter word is intended.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word insure as to: secure the payment of a sum of money in the event of loss or damage.

In other words, you buy insurance in order to insure your home or your car, etc.

The meaning most people attribute to insure is actually the meaning of ensure, which is to make certain or make safe.

We wear seat belts when driving or on a plane to ensure our safety. We learn new things and plan ahead to ensure a positive outcome.

We listen carefully to ensure that we can properly understand what is being said and to be able to respond appropriately.

An easy trick for deciding whether to use insure or ensure is to remember that you buy insurance to insure things. If you are not doing that, chances are that ensure is the word and the spelling that conveys what you actually mean to say.

It’s (or Its?) about Being Professional and Credible

November 10, 2015 | Marjorie Saulson

The English language is filled with spelling booby traps that are just waiting to trick the unwary.

Unfortunately, while we don’t usually get extra credit for correctly writing emails, sales copy, etc.; mistakes in basic grammar can cost us credibility points with precisely those people we wish to impress with our abilities and expertise.

So allow me to come to the rescue if you are one of those people who is understandably confused over the correct usage of the following pairs of words:

its – it’s
whose – who’s
your – you’re
their – they’re (complicated by the ever popular there)

The fact that these pairs of words are pronounced the same adds to the confusion over which spelling to use in which situation.

Allow me both to clear up any confusion, and also to give you a simple trick for remembering which variation to use at any given time.

The first version of each of the above pairs is the possessive form of the word, indicating that something belongs to someone or something.

The second version is a contraction, two words that are combined (or a single word in a shortened form), with the apostrophe indicating the missing letter(s).

Here are some sample sentences, with a few extra contractions thrown in for good measure.

You can’t (cannot) tell a book by its cover. It’s (It is) my book.
Whose book is this? Who’s (Who is) that sitting on my chair? (What Goldilocks would have said if she had actually found the bear on her chair.)
That’s (That is) your book. You’re (You are) sitting on my chair.
Their book is here. They’re (They are) reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Just to complicate matters further, there indicates a location, and often starts a sentence as well. There is a book over there.

So what’s the simple trick I promised you for figuring out which spelling to use?

Read aloud the sentence you wish to write using both the subject and the verb, without the contraction. If it makes sense, then use the version with the apostrophe. Otherwise, use the other version.

For example, would it make sense to say that you can’t tell a book by it is cover? No, then use its. But since it makes sense to say that it is my book, you can use the contraction it’s.

While this may seem like just a bunch of gobbledygook to you; when it comes to sending written communications, always remember that good grammar is good business.

Good Grammar

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