tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2298390238593495215.post5713201062964643866..comments2023-10-20T03:30:53.003-06:00Comments on Today's WORD on Journalism: Today's Word—GrammarTed Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17393220507793680242noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2298390238593495215.post-47111136457078986642008-03-25T10:35:00.000-06:002008-03-25T10:35:00.000-06:00Grammar touches a nerve! Multiple responses emaile...Grammar touches a nerve! Multiple responses emailed to the WORDman about this one. Some are:<BR/><BR/>• "Most of my students believe the term refers to one's parents' mothers."<BR/><BR/>• "Ah, Grammar! A field in which it is so easy to be both devotee and offender . . . ."<BR/> <BR/>Q: "As long as we're doing nit-picking pedantry, shouldn't that have been 'a minority are fascinated by it.'?"<BR/><BR/>WORDman says: Excellent! but I don't think so. It's the same conundrum as a "couple" is/are; the Utah Jazz is/are. Depends on whether the meaning is the group/dyad or the collective/team. You could probably use either in this case, but I think the undifferentiated mass of "minority" is preferable, and thus singular.<BR/><BR/>Is it nit-pickery? "Why does anyone care?" my students asked yesterday in a related (AP Style) context. After I stopped banging my forehead on the whiteboard, I replied, "Because it does."<BR/><BR/>More to follow....<BR/><BR/>TPTed Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17393220507793680242noreply@blogger.com