One of the...

One of the city in Europe that I love is Paris.

What's wrong with this sentence?

It should read:

One of the cities in Europe that I love is Paris.

The rule:
The phrase "one of the," should have an object that is plural.
The structure: One of the Noun(plural)

More examples:
One of the ways to earn money online is to put Google Adsense in your site or blog.
One of the things I like about you is your thoughtfulness.

This is yet another common mistake in English essays. :)

You and Me v. You and I

Have you been following US. President Barack Obama and his speeches?

If yes, then you know what I'm talking about. If no, don't fret. I, too, didn't know about Obama's lapses on the use of the phrases, "you and I" or "you and me."

We learn that we use You and I as a subject of the sentence, and you and me as the object.

For example:

You and I deserve this scholarship.
This is just between you and me.

In any case, New York Times has an interesting article on the use of You and I or You and Me. There was a time in the history of letters that the I and me are interchangeable. Pretty interesting!

Read on...

Between... and

Between 2006 or 2007, she was working for a PR company.

I often read this "between... or" combination. The correct form of this connector is "between... and." Thus the sentence above should read:

Between 2006 and 2007, she was working for a PR company.

Where is the Pronoun Antecedent?

Look at this sentence:

Sr. Leni is Gabo's Religion teacher, and the conference was part of the preparation for his first communion.

Notice the 'his' in bold font. We call that a pronoun, and a pronoun replaces a noun. So we look back in the sentence and look for that noun that the pronoun 'his' replaces. Can you find it?

We sure can find many nouns before the 'his.' There are six nouns before 'his' - Sr. Leni, Religion, teacher, conference, part, preparation. Can 'his' replace any of these nouns? I don't think so.

The only noun that 'his' can replace in that sentence would have been 'Gabo.' But the form of 'Gabo' is not a noun, it's in the possessive, Gabo's, so that doesn't count.

In other words, the pronoun 'his' has no antecedent in this sentence. The sentence should be:

Sr. Leni is Gabo's Religion teacher, and the conference was part of the preparation for Gabo's first communion.

Watch Those S's, Please

On my way home from work tonight, I overheard two people talking. Their conversation went:

Lady 1: Kaya nga every minute count.
(That's why every minute count.)

Lady 2: Sinabi mo. Every seconds count talaga!
(You said it! Every seconds really count!)

By omitting an S on "count," Lady 1 violated the subject-verb agreement. The subject is singular, therefore the verb takes on the plural form. She should have said: "... every minute counts."

By putting an S to "seconds" and not ending "count" with S, Lady 2 violated two rules:

(1) "every" should be followed by a singular noun
(2) subject-verb agreement

She should have said, "... every second really count!"

The care in 'taken cared of'

"Children involved in armed conflict are well taken cared of."

My ears tingle whenever I hear people use the phrase, "taken cared of." The correct form is "taken care of."

The sentence above should read: Children involved in armed conflict are well taken care of.

In this phrase, the word care should be in the affirmative form because it already has "taken" as the main verb. These verb phrase "taken care of" falls under the category of causative verbs.

According to the rule, causative verbs designate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The problem has been taken care of." the verb "taken" causes the "care" to happen.

Avoid Those Adverbs, Please

I was watching Balikbayan on QTV last night, and in one teaser, a female newscaster blurted:

"I personally witnessed the Pahiyas here in Lucban, Quezon."

There is nothing wrong with the adverb there, but it is unnecessary. The "I" already implies that the speaker is there in person.

Every time I hear or read adverbs, I'd remember Stephen King and his aversion to adverbs. In his book, On Writing, he says that if you can't describe an event well enough, no amount of adverbs is going to help your prose.

One of his famous lines, "The road to hell is paved with adverbs."

Make That "in"

Cadet Antonio Trillanes IV was in charge of indoctrinating the newcomers on the Honor System in the Academy.

It should be: indoctrinating in

Using "indoctrinate" in a sentence:

1. Some parents are critical of attempts to indoctrinate children in fundamentalism.
2. Some people have been indoctrinated by television to believe that violence is normal.