Homework for Monday, Nov. 16th: your personal opinion

Solutions for our pop-up quiz from Monday, Nov. 9th:
According to the prompt in the email, you had to find ONE pronoun-antecedent disagreement:

WRONG sentence: "I mean, who in THEIR right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?"

RIGHT sentence: "I mean, who in HIS or HER right mind would make such a claim if it weren't true?"

(You only needed to spot the pronoun-antecedent disagreement; not the "was/were" mistake!)

The rule behind it: "Who" is always singular, like "anybody," "nobody," "somebody," "someone," "anyone," and "no one."


With regard to our most recent pop-up quiz, there is one person, Sylvia Chalker, who argues against the "right grammar rules." Here is a link to one page of a review article where this person gives good reasons for why one might need to rethink a "correct grammar rule."

The rule is: "WHO is always singular." After reading this critique's statement, how do you personally think about this issue? Is Sylvia Chalker right? Is she wrong? If you could change the grammar rule, would you do so, and why? Or, why not?

HOMEWORK: Post a short comment to this blog (or, if you cannot blog for some reason, email me, or bring a print-out), giving your personal opinion. Due date: Monday, Nov. 16th, at class time. This post is worth 5 points and makes up for the 5 points missed if you didn't spot the mistake in the pop-up quiz. If you did spot it, you'll get 10 points altogther!