Filed under: Anna
Recently I was reading a newsletter that we get at the studio, and the title of the first major article had a blaring misuse of “who” vs. “whom.” As I write this, I can’t even remember what the offensive sentence was…..just that the grammatical mistake was blatant enough to jar me out of my “going through the junk mail stupor.”
It occured to me, as I sat there being quietly offended by the publication, that I as not EXACTLY sure why the sentence was wrong….only that it WAS wrong. So I set out to refresh my grammatical understanding. In doing so, I found a fun little website called Grammar Girl, which has a searchable section called “Quick and Dirty Tips.”
So, for those of you that are interested, here is the quicker and dirtier version (if you want the full description, I recommend reading the Grammar Girl explanation).
Who is in reference to the SUBJECT of the sentence or clause.
Whom is in reference to the OBJECT of the sentence or clause.
If you are at all like me, when I read this I was like, “Wow. I haven’t thought about subjects and objects of sentences since…oh…..the 6th grade.”
If you need a refresher: The SUBJECT is the “doer” of an action and the OBJECT is the “receiver” of an action (ie: I love you. “I” am the subject and “you” are the object.
The mneumonic that Grammar Girl gives is: If I say, “I love you,” you are the object of my affection, and you is also the object of the sentence (because I am loving you, making me the subject and you the object). How’s that? I love you. You are the object of my affection and my sentence. It’s like a Valentine’s Day card and grammar mnemonic all rolled into one.
Brilliant.
Even quicker and dirtier:
If you can answer the inquiry with “he” the correct pronoun is “who.”
Question: “Who answered the door?” Answer: “He answered the door.”
If you can answer the inquiry with “him” the correct pronoun is “whom.”
Question: “To whom are you speaking?” Answer: “I am speaking to him.”
Brilliantly easy.
So…if you even care, there is a little grammar brush-up, and if nothing else, a little flashback to the 6th grade. 
Filed under: Family
Last Saturday night Booda and Max escaped from our back yard.
For those of you who were not in Fort Wayne last Saturday night, it was the first really cold and snowy night of the season. The dogs had been enjoying the first “play-worthy” batch of snow all day, so when we let them out that evening and we didn’t hear anything from them for a bit (45 minutes or so), it didn’t seem too peculiar. But when went to go check on them…..silence from the back yard.
Needless to say a panicked search ensued. It was dark. It was cold. We tracked the doggy tracks….which, if you have ever tracked doggy tracks…get pretty turned around pretty quickly. Troy ran through the neighborhood and the adjacent neighborhood for a good hour and a half. In retrospect, he probably looked like a crazy person jogging between houses and calling out to Booda and Max.
We called our faithful dog trainers/sitters to ask for advice, and like true doggy heroes they came to help us search. This is especially gallant and virtuous because they live a good half an hour from where we live. But they got in their car with their hound dog Andy and came to our aid.
I suppose that only a dog lover/owner can understand the panic and trauma of losing your pet. This was the first time that it has happened to me. It was really awful. You wonder if they have been made into a little doggy pancake by a passing car or if they are a frozen little doggy popsicle.
Fortunately, both Booda and Max were successfully recovered from their grand adventure. Booda actually came home on his own (what a smart good dog!). Max was rescued by a friendly dog-loving woman two neighborhoods away from us. She called Troy on his cell phone as he was running around the neighborhood. So, all ended well.
We now have padlock on the gate. Just in case.
