An Editor’s Confession

 

By Andrea Merrell

There’s nothing like being put on the spot, especially when you don’t have an answer to the question.

It’s a common misconception among writers that editors know everything and can quote every rule from spelling to punctuation to grammar and everything in between.

Sorry to disappoint, but our brains can only retain so much information. That’s why we have industry standard reference material such as the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and the Christian Writer’s Manual of Style (CWMS), along with other guidelines and style sheets. Even those with a degree in English must depend on these helpful tools.

After speaking with a number of other professional editors, I’ve found we all have the same issue. There are certain rules that have taken deep root in our psyche. We can spit them out as fast as our name and address.

But there are other rules that just don’t seem to stick, and we constantly have to look them up. While some editors struggle with spelling and the meaning of certain words, others have a problem with correct punctuation, formatting, and hyphenated words. We all have our Achilles heel—that weak spot we can’t seem to get a handle on, so we run to our reference guides, the dictionary, or our fellow editors.

This can become a dilemma (a word I always have to look up to verify correct spelling ... LOL).

So this week, I’m going to share a concept that always makes me second-guess myself and, hopefully, will help you in your own writing and self-editing.

Who and Whom

Who functions as the subject; whom functions as the object. Sounds simple, right? But since most people use who when speaking, it’s easy to misuse in our writing.

Here are some helpful tips from Grammarbook.com:

The pronoun who is always subjective. Use who wherever you would use the subjective pronouns I, he, she, we, or they. It is correct to say Who wants to go? because we would say I want to go or We want to go.

The pronoun whom is always an object. Use whom wherever you would use the objective pronouns me, him, her, us, or them. It is not correct to say Who did you choose? We would say Whom because you choose me or them.

Handy memory aid: Use this they or them method to decide whether who or whom is correct:

they = who
them = whom

Examples:
Who/Whom wrote the letter?
They wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.

Who/Whom should I vote for?
Should I vote for them? Therefore, whom is correct.

Here are a couple of other issues I run across frequently. If we do something quickly (instead of quick), why do we feel bad (instead of badly)? And then there’s the question of further versus farther. But I digress … Maybe we’ll hit these in another blog post.

Do you have certain rules you struggle with? If so, please share in the comments so we can all learn together.

Photo by Daniel Hooper on Unsplash