Language is fluid. It’s alive; it shifts. It follows humanity’s path and sometimes forges off on its own.
I’m hip to all that: I really am. But within this shifting fluidity there remain some rules to be followed for optimal communication, and as writers, it’s okay for us to ignore them … but only when it’s done knowingly, intentionally, for a good reason … and not because we never bothered to learn them in the first place.
Here are five mistakes that everyone makes. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this: Be daring. Step away from the crowd. Have the courage of your convictions, and don’t make these same mistakes!
- Never feel badly. You feel bad if you hurt someone’s feelings; you feel badly if your touch isn’t communicating the right information to your brain. The Grammar Girl offers this tip: If you can replace “feel” with “am,” then you/re doing it right. You cannot say, “I am badly,” but you can say, “I am bad.” Case closed.
- Slow isn’t an adverb. Just to confuse you after Point #1, people do the opposite with slow and remove the adverbial ending rather than adding it. “Go slow,” is incorrect; “go slowly” is what you want to say. “Slow” by itself is an adjective. Don’t use it as an adverb.
- Data is plural. Unless you’re referring to the character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, data always refers to a group of information. It feels awkward to treat it as a plural because we’re so used to saying and hearing it used incorrectly, but trust me: the data are in. If you feel uncomfortable using it correctly because it sounds odd, then rather than use it incorrectly, why not go with something else? Replace “data” with “information,” “statistics,” or something else equally precise.
- Who=subjective, whom=objective. Who is always subject to a verb (“Who was that masked man?”), while whom works as an object in the sentence (“The women, two of whom are Russian, are going to be deported.”). “Whom” is not a substitute for “who” when you think using it might make you seem more learned or refined. The effect will be quite the opposite.
- No, thank you, you’re not good. Someone has asked you how you are, and the answer is, “Thank you, I’m well.” Not good. Good means angelic. Good has qualitative implications that have nothing to do with your health, unless of course you’d like to respond that you’re in good health. Grammar Girl disagrees with me on this one, by the way.
Break the rules? Sure: but learn them, and know them, before you do. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!
