Anvari.org

Grammar Police

Home › Funplex › Language and English

[email]

Grammar Police


Grammar Police

from the "Metropolitan Diary" section of the NY TIMES (June 1, 1998)


Visiting an editor at Random House, I stepped into a crowded elevator and found
myself pressed close to the control panel.

"Has everyone got their floors?" I asked.

After a moment's silence, a young female voice from the rear said, "His or her."

"I beg your pardon?" I said.

"His or her. It's 'Has everyone got his or her floors?' Your pronouns don't
agree."

"And shouldn't it be 'his or her floor', not 'floors'?" a young man piped up.
"Each of us gets off at only one floor."

"And wouldn't it be better to say 'Does everybody have?' rather than 'Has
everybody got?'" a third voice chimed in.

I stood corrected - and red faced. But I was glad to know that good grammar is
alive and well.





Leave a Comment

Name
Email (Optional)
Web Site (Optional)
Comment
Type 8822 here

More Language and English

  1. [page] A Prayer For Sid Klein
  2. [page] A Pronunciation Exercise
  3. [page] American English Vs The Real McCoy
  4. [page] Apostrophe
  5. [page] Ask Mr Language Person
  6. [page] B O O K Tm
  7. [page] Book Potatos
  8. [page] Bookstores
  9. [page] Buzz Word Synthesizer
  10. [page] Correct Definitions
  11. [page] Dave Barry On Grammar
  12. [page] Double Positive
  13. [page] Doublespeak
  14. [page] Down With Plain English
  15. [page] End Of The World Headlines
  16. [page] Gender Grammar
  17. [page] Grammar Police
  18. [page] Grammar And Spelling Troubles
  19. [page] Green Eggs And Hamlet
  20. [page] Had Had Had Had Had Had Had A Riddle
  21. [page] Hamlet Was Really A College Student: The Literary Evidence
  22. [page] Hemingway Sightings
  23. [page] How To Address A Politically-Correct, Non-Sexist Business Letter
  24. [page] How To Phrase It
  25. [page] How To Talk To People
  26. [page] Important Vocabulary
  27. [page] It Is Fundamentally True That The Terms Below Are In English
  28. [page] Jabberwocky After A Trial By Spell Checker
  29. [page] Journalists And The Stock Market
  30. [page] Language Barriers
  31. [page] Language Trends Of The Future
  32. [page] Medieval Vs Modern English
  33. [page] New Definitions
  34. [page] Only
  35. [page] Only Dweebs Read Books!!
  36. [page] Oops!! Coca Cola Typo!!
  37. [page] Opposites
  38. [page] Oxymorons
  39. [page] PC Little Red Riding Hood
  40. [page] Plurals
  41. [page] Poem About A Spell Checker
  42. [page] Porpoises
  43. [page] Pun-ny
  44. [page] Regional Humor Page
  45. [page] Roses Are Red
  46. [page] Shakespearian Insult Kit
  47. [page] Shakespearian Insults
  48. [page] Simian Shakespeare
  49. [page] Sniglets
  50. [page] Stop That Bulletin!!
  51. [page] Tandem Story
  52. [page] Taters
  53. [page] The Duel
  54. [page] The History Of The English Language
  55. [page] The Importance Of Correct Punctuation
  56. [page] The Pluperfect Virus
  57. [page] The Ten Commandments In Ebonics
  58. [page] The Three Little Politically Correct Pigs
  59. [page] The Top 16 Plays Shakespeare Chose Not To Publish
  60. [page] This Is The Title Of This Story, Which Is Also Found Several Times In The Story Itself
  61. [page] Verbose Mother Goose
  62. [page] Verbose Writing
  63. [page] Verbs Is Fun
  64. [page] Vowels To Bosnia
  65. [page] Worst Paragraph Winners
Retrieved from http://www.anvari.org/fun/Language_and_English/Grammar_Police.html
Anvari.org
Copyright © 1999-2012 Ahmad Anvari