But on behalf of the grammarians everywhere, we’ll do it anyway. Here’s a sentence from the 1/16/10 coverage of the Sony Open in Hawaii by a local sports page columnist:
“So when Fujikawa strode confidently to the ninth tee yesterday right at the projected one-over-par cut line to close the front nine, it was hard for he or his mushrooming galley to imagine a better, more providential setting for a stretch run on cut-down day.”
“….for he….” ?? Obviously, this writer meant “for him” – something a native English speaker should know without a second thought. And he does know the correct usage one sentence later: “….where everything had gone right for him in the past….”
Who knows what happened? Maybe it wasn’t the columnist’s grammar mistake after all. Maybe a copyeditor changed “him” to “he” in a moment of madness.
All we know is that it’s more evidence of the steady creep of bad grammar into contemporary life -- and we’re still here to call it out.
1 comments:
Thanks for all your efforts to stamp out the ubiquitous misuse of pronouns. I am amazed at how many times every day I hear "me and him," or something equally as offensive, from people who are reasonably well-educated. Nobody seems to care any more. Is this misuse becoming acceptable?
I just received a copy of your book and am looking forward to reading it. I'm glad someone is willing to take on the fight.
Lynn Murphy
@Lynn_Murphy - if you're on Twitter
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