Texas Bar Practice Blog |Who vs. Whom: How to Always Make the Right ChoiceWritten byRoger SiebertDecember 17, 2024Share this Post(Remember the m’s: “him, them, whom.”) If you’re unsure whether to use “who” or “whom” in a sentence, here’s a simple test: Temporarily substitute “he” and “him” in the place where the “who” or “whom” would go. If “he” sounds more natural, use “who,” but if “him” sounds more natural, use “whom.” If the “who” or “whom” is plural, instead temporarily substitute “they” and “them.” If “they” sounds more natural, use “who,” but if “them” sounds more natural, use “whom.” Note the mnemonic device: None of “he,” “they,” and “who” end with “m,” but “him,” “them,” and “whom” all end with “m.” From a grammatical standpoint, substituting “she” and “her” works as well as substituting “he” and “him,” but “her” doesn’t end with “m” and so doesn’t lend itself to the mnemonic. That’s it for the test. The rest of this post gives examples and additional tips to help with more complex situations where the simple substitution test doesn’t work. Simple Examples This test is straightforward with simple sentences. Take, for example, “Who/Whom is the president of that company?” Would we say, “He …

Texas Bar Practice Blog |Just Deserts or Just Desserts?Written byRoger SiebertNovember 6, 2023Share this PostIs the Phrase Just Deserts or Just Desserts, and How Is That Five Words? We’re all familiar with the idea that different words can sound the same, like the troublemakers they’re, their, and there, and with the idea that different words can be spelled the same but sound different, like a wind that rustles a tree’s leaves and how we wind a clock. Words that fall in that first category are called homophones (“same” and “sound”); those in the second, homographs (“same” and “symbol”). Although writing software has gotten pretty sophisticated and can warn us when we mistakenly use their for they’re, it’s still not advanced enough to catch writing blunders such as the “runs ten miles weakly” I once saw on a résumé or to catch the misspelling in just desserts. What’s that? Just desserts is correct? Not so fast. The deserts in just deserts is a homophone of (sounds the same as) the sweet treat desserts but is a homograph of (is spelled the same as) the arid landscape deserts. What we’re dealing with here are not two words, but three: The word dessert (di-ˈzǝrt), meaning a sweet course or dish, comes from a Middle French derivative of desservir, meaning to clear a table. The word desert (ˈde-zǝrt), meaning an arid landscape, comes from the Latin dēsertus, meaning empty or deserted. The word desert (di-ˈzǝrt), meaning a reward or punishment, comes through Old French from the Latin dēservīre, meaning to serve according to merit. The correct …

Texas Bar Practice Blog |How Do You Hyphenate Compound Adjectives?Written byRoger SiebertSeptember 7, 2021Share this PostParenthetical content is a word, phrase, or sentence that functions as an aside, briefly departing from the main discourse. The punctuation normally used to separate parenthetical content from the main text is, of course, parentheses, but parenthetical commas or em dashes may also be used. Setting off text with parentheses usually de-emphasizes it, setting off text with commas usually carries neutral emphasis, and setting off text with em dashes usually emphasizes it: John brought a stray dog (a bull terrier) to grandma’s house. John brought a stray dog, a bull terrier, to grandma’s house. John brought a stray dog—a bull terrier—to grandma’s house. When parenthetical text falls at the end of a sentence, omit the closing parenthetical comma or em dash, but include the closing parenthesis: John brought home a stray dog (a bull terrier). John brought home a stray dog, a bull terrier. John brought home a stray dog—a bull terrier. Note that, as with the comma, parentheses and the em dash have uses other than just setting off parenthetical content. I won’t get into all of that here. As a general rule, parenthetical text shouldn’t influence …

Texas Bar Practice Blog |Should I Put Commas Around a Title?Written byRoger SiebertJuly 26, 2020Share this PostIf you find yourself wondering whether you should put commas around a word or phrase that restates another noun, such as the book title in the sentence “The novel Carrie was published in 1974,” ask yourself if the word or phrase answers the question “Which _____?” So in this case, does “Carrie” answer the question “Which novel?” Yes, it does. Countless novels exist, and “Carrie” specifies which one we’re referring to. So the book title is necessary information and should not be set off with commas. If instead the sentence is “Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974,” the question “Which Stephen King first novel?” doesn’t even make sense. Stephen King has only one first novel. So in this sentence, “Carrie” is additional but unnecessary information and should be set off with commas. Context Matters “Carrie White is the protagonist of Stephen King’s first novel. That novel, Carrie, was published in 1974.” Note that by “unnecessary,” I don’t mean that the noun set off with commas is irrelevant to the work the sentence appears in. I mean that if I am armed with the information, …

Texas Bar Practice Blog |What Is Parenthetical Content?Written byRoger SiebertJune 16, 2020Share this PostParenthetical content is a word, phrase, or sentence that functions as an aside, briefly departing from the main discourse. The punctuation normally used to separate parenthetical content from the main text is, of course, parentheses, but parenthetical commas or em dashes may also be used. Setting off text with parentheses usually de-emphasizes it, setting off text with commas usually carries neutral emphasis, and setting off text with em dashes usually emphasizes it: John brought a stray dog (a bull terrier) to grandma’s house. John brought a stray dog, a bull terrier, to grandma’s house. John brought a stray dog—a bull terrier—to grandma’s house. When parenthetical text falls at the end of a sentence, omit the closing parenthetical comma or em dash, but include the closing parenthesis: John brought home a stray dog (a bull terrier). John brought home a stray dog, a bull terrier. John brought home a stray dog—a bull terrier. Note that, as with the comma, parentheses and the em dash have uses other than just setting off parenthetical content. I won’t get into all of that here. As a general rule, parenthetical text shouldn’t influence the syntax …