More on Pronoun Abuse

 

Three Reales & Cousin Lionel rooting for Argentina at The Capital Room Bar. Why Argentina? Both Mike and Lionel were born there, brought here as babies. (They are always quick to point out their families emigrated through proper application & approval.)

Susie, Hailey, Lionel, Riley

 

 

Storm over Sanibel Island.  Photo by Jorge Perez

Cape Coral, FL.  Photo by Ed Saternus

  

Last but not least - our Cassidy, exiling herself to the staircase due to a strep throat -  watching her mother open birthday presents. (That's the top of my head at the dining room table below.)

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MORE THOUGHTS ON PRONOUN ABUSE

 Since my blog on "Pronoun Abuse" proved to be so popular, I thought I should dredge up a few more words on the subject. And "dredge" is the apt word, as I find examples really hard to create! 

When I say that Pronoun Abuse is a product of the 21st century, I can safely state that I know what I'm talking about, for I remember well over half of the Twentieth Century, and we did not talk like that. (At least not in New England, Nebraska, or the West Coast of Florida where I spent my 20th c.) Nor will I attempt to speculate on how Pronouns began to be mangled since the turn of the 21st c. All I'm attempting to do is make people aware that it's happened and that I hope more than we "oldsters" find it abhorrent. This is a deviance from American English that needs to be rooted out before it changes our language forever.

In this follow-up post I want to show examples of how correct use often deviates from a simple substitution of  "she" for "her" or "he" for "him." The way we said the same idea in the 20th c. might be quite different from the phrase in Pronoun-abuse English. For example . . .

It's them.

There they are. They're here.

 

Him and Me

He and I.  Bill and I 

 

Ben and her

Ben and Betty

 

Them's the right words! (Both "them" & singular verb incorrect)

You got it! You said it! 

 

It's me.*

It's me.

 

*The exception to every rule. This expression has been around so long it's definitely here to stay, although I do recall, "It is I" being used as an intentional "hi-falutin'" joke.

 

Below, examples of the CORRECT use of "him," "her," and "them." As OBJECTS of the verb.

 

I like him.

 

He ran past her.

 

The careless driver hit them with his car. 

 

SUMMARY.

Yes, as seen in the gallery pic above, language usage changes, but Pronoun Abuse is such a huge deterioration of American English that I'd really like to see it nipped in the bub. Crying in the wilderness? Very likely. But please, pretty please, think about it and, hopefully, catch yourself before you say, "Me and him" or "I can ski better than her." (Groan.) Please . . . . . . 

 

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 Books of the Week

Many books in my Regency Warrior series and in my Regency Gothic series feature heroes devoted to their country. I managed to pare the choices down to two for this weekend's celebration of our 250th Anniversary. Both feature soldiers who truly sacrificed for their country—one, a leg; the other, the noble life he was born into.  

 Major Courtland Randolph, after losing a leg at Waterloo, abandons the world of his birth for a hops farm in Kent. He is not pleased when his former commanding officer maneuvers him into returning to society as protector of a lady who once termed him, "The Abominable Major." Yet in the course of dealing with a dashing Russian countess, political unrest, his ex-fiancée, an importunate prince, a mysterious young man from the London slums, a high-born runaway, and a dramatic change in his private life, Court finally accepts that he is still a man. Man enough to love and be loved.

Author's Note: Each book in the Regency Warrior series is a stand-alone story, but The Abominable Major has so many cross-over characters from The Lady Takes a Risk that you might want to read Lady  first. There is also a spin-off series—the three novellas about the adventures of Matthew Wolfe (mysterious young man from the London slums). 

 

 When the uncle of a six-year-old marquess threatens to take him from his widowed mother, as well as urge her to marry his rakish son, Victoire, Marchioness of Brynthorpe, hires a war-weary band of ex-soldiers as bodyguards. The resulting clash reverberates from Wiltshire to London as Captain Fox, the Stone Soldier, turns out to be far more than his military rank implies.
Violent conflict, an unexpected and rocky romance, close-held secrets—all to the tune of comments and advice from five resident phantoms. Yet even when our hero and heroine see sunny skies at last, one more problem rears its ugly head. 

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