First-Person Pronouns
It's always nice to meet a world leader who has bigger ears than me [read I]. (Barack H. Obama, speech, Disney World, January 20, 2012)
The world leader to whom Mr. Obama was referring was, of course . . .
. . . Mickey Mouse. Mr. Obama's error was to use the objective case me when he should have used the nominative case I. To avoid this mistake, remember the missing words that are implied: who has bigger ears than I [have big ears].
Grandiose
[America] is a grandiose [read grand] country of big people doing big things. (Newt Gingrich, North Carolina debate, January 19, 2012).
The first definition of grandiose is "characterized by affectation of grandeur or splendor or by absurd exaggeration." Rick Santorum used the word properly, as an insult, when he said, "Grandiosity has never been a problem with Next." His point, he explained, was that the former House speaker was better about coming up with big ideas than about implementing them. Mr. Gingrich's error was to accept the term and use it, inaptly, as something positive.
Period
[Governor Perry] also served as chairman or chief fundraiser for the Republican Governor's [read Governors] Association during the last five years, a period of time [read period] when it shattered fundraising records by raking in $68 million. (Patricia Kilday Hart, "Will they still say carry on if Perry cash cow dries up?" Houston Chronicle, January 6, 2011)
Period means a chronological division. Ms. Kilday Hart persists in the error of saying, in effect, a chronological division of time. Governor's for Governors is a simple reporting and fact-checking error, with joint and several liability for both writer and editor. Whether it should, in theory, be Governor's or Governors', it is, in fact, Governors. That's what the organization calls itself.
Subjunctive Mood
It's not as if the litigation was [read were] totally unexpected. (Editorial, "Unfair finance: School funding woes have prompted four lawsuits. Texas shouldn't be in this position," Houston Chronicle, January 7, 2012)
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