Author Archives: catherinespicer

When this was suggested for a topic, I hadn’t given much thought about the difference between saying, “I could care less” versus “I couldn’t care less.”

If you tell someone “I could care less,” is that telling them that you don’t have an opinion on the matter, or a self-righteous way of saying you might be able to care less, but can’t be bothered?

How much do we care about things? The outpouring of support for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing means that we care an awful lot about those who were affected. This past week, PR Newswire’s parent company, UBM, organized the Business4Better conference in Anaheim, California, which means that we care a lot about helping connect non-profits with corporations and seeing the tremendous things that can come from the right combination of idea + resource.

Locally, the big topic in my world is the shutdown of the main artery I use to get to work for two weeks while they film the next Captain America movie. How much do I care? Meh, I could care less about the inconvenience I’ll endure for two weeks, but that would take too much energy. However, I couldn’t care less about the inconvenience, provided Captain America himself personally picks me up and transports me safely to work each day.

Telling someone “I could care less” elicits a powerful response as a grammatical peeve, primarily because of its illogical nature. You’re trying to convey that you don’t care at all.  What you are actually saying is that it is possible for you to care less, you’re just not going to put forth the effort. Harvard professor Stephen Pinker argued that the emphasis given to whether you could care less or couldn’t care less would tell the listener whether you were being ironic or sarcastic.

So, is it grammatically incorrect to tell someone you could care less? No, but if that’s something you prefer to say, I couldn’t care less.

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com.

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.

Have you been so confuzzled with when to use “assure,” “ensure,” and “insure” that you actually go back and rewrite your sentence to avoid using that word? I confess, I do that all the time often.

“Ensure” and “insure” derive from the Latin word securus, which means “safe” or “secure.” This Latin word also give us “sure,” “secure,” “assure,” and “security.” These three verbs – assure, ensure, insure – all have the same general meaning: “to make sure.” The devil is in the details and context is key to determining when to use each of these words.

The simplest way I’ve found to keep these three words straight is as follows:

• Assure – something you to do a person, a group of people, or an animal to remove doubt or anxiety.  Example: I assured my team that I would bring my world-famous tiramisu to our next team meeting.  I don’t know how anxious my team is about what sort of food I bring to the team meeting, but if they are worried about it, I’m assuring them I will bring something yummy, thereby removing any doubt or anxiety they may have had.

Quick tip: You can only assure things that are alive – assure/alive – both start with A.

• Ensure – something you to do guarantee an event or condition. Example: We’re working really hard to ensure that the back yard will be ready for the party next month.  I’m planning a party next month that I’d like to have in my backyard. In order for that to happen, I need to eradicate about a thousand Canadian thistles from my backyard, otherwise, someone is sure to step on one of those spiky little buggers and not have fun at my party.

Quick tip: If I’m trying to ensure something, I’m trying to guarantee an outcome – ensure/guarantee – remember the double E in guarantee to use ensure.

• Insure – something you can do to a person, place, or thing, limiting financial liability. Example: It’s a good thing I called State Farm to insure my new flute because I accidentally dropped it and backed over it with the car. Now, this didn’t actually happen to me, but did happen to a friend of mine. Her flute case was on top of the car and she forgot about it. She started to back down her driveway. The flute case slid off the top of the car and she ran over it. She had insurance coverage on her flute, which limited her financial liability, and she got her flute repaired and a new flute case and was only out about a hundred bucks.

Quick tip: If you don’t insure your car and end up in a fender bender with a Rolls-Royce – that will impact your income – insure and income both begin with “in.”

You can also remember it this way, “I assure you, I’ve ensured that I’m insured.”

Have a grammatical question you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services for PR Newswire.

I’ve had a difficult time trying to come up with a grammatically-appropriate topic in light of a never-ending stream of horrific news – explosions at the Boston Marathon, ricin-laced letters being sent to Washington, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas that gets blown sky high, killing dozens, including at least 10 first responders. Somehow, discussing grammatical issues just seems pointless.  I’m reminded, though, that the human race is remarkably resilient and will continue to put one foot in front of the other and rally to comfort those who are hurt.

It’s Earth Day. Earth Day was the brainchild of Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, who wanted to bring environmental issues to the forefront of the national political agenda. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans – groups that had been protesting oil spills, pollution, toxic dumps, pesticides, loss of wilderness and wildlife – rallied to express their common values. In a rare political alignment among Democrats and Republicans, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts(1).

Grammatically, when should you capitalize “Earth?”  I can talk about the hundreds of people who moved heaven and earth to help others in Boston and in Texas.

“Earth” should be capitalized:

• In references to Earth Day – Earth Day is the name of the holiday, and therefore a proper noun.

• When included with other planets – Saturn is nine times larger than Earth.

“Earth” is left lower-cased especially after the word “the.”

EXAMPLE:  Save the earth.

On a personal note, I spent my weekend frantically practicing my flute for a concert I played in on Sunday. I’m reminded of this quote, by Martin Luther.

“Nothing on earth is so well-suited to make the sad merry, the merry sad, to give courage to the despairing, to make the proud humble, to lessen envy and hate, as music.”

(Cue: Boston Bruins game this week where the crowd took over the national anthem.)

(1)    Please see www.earthday.org to learn more about Earth Day and its continuing efforts.

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.

Lead and led is yet another grammatical speed bump that causes me to pause. I saw examples of incorrect lead/led usage in a few news releases this week, and each time, I had to double check myself. I had to get past the homophone of lead vs. led and get down to the nitty gritty of what the release was actually saying. Who is leading what?  Who led whom?

I don’t think anyone needs me to tell you about the mineral kind of lead, but in case you do, it’s the stuff that they used to put in paint that was banned in the 1970s (and not the stuff you’d think is in a #2 pencil – for more on that subject, please see David Rees’ book “How to Sharpen Pencils” and his website http://www.artisanalpencilsharpening.com/).

The word “lead” (rhymes with “seed”) can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adjective.

Example #1:  Who is currently in the lead? (noun)

Example #2:  You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. (verb)

Example #3:  I’ve been selected to play the lead role in this summer’s production of “Hello, Dolly!” (adjective)

The past tense and past participle of the verb “to lead” is “led.”

Example #1:  Napoleon led his troops to their final battle at Waterloo.

Example #2:  Winning the regional spelling bee led to fame, glory, and my future career as the Grammar Hammer.  (Well, that’s not entirely true; I never won a regional spelling bee.)

Quick tip: If you’re trying to come with another way to say “guided” or “directed,” or you’re talking about leadership and leaders, you would use the word “led.”

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.

April is National Poetry Month, so I thought I would take a break from my regularly scheduled grammatical opinions to take a look at grammar rules within poetry.

Grammar rules are often bent in creative writing. Creative writing can be less formal. Use sentence fragments. Stream of consciousness thoughts. Trying to communicate your message.   Example:

Poetry, by Catherine Spicer, Grammar Hammer

a medium that strains

my meager brains

and is not my forte.

My opinion of poetry is very similar to my opinion of music. I am a great appreciator of music. I love all kinds of music. When I’m not solving grammatical crises for clients and working on the editorial desk at PR Newswire, I’m usually playing the flute. The ensemble I play in will often tackle very contemporary pieces of music. I was trained on Bach and Mozart, so I’ve had to do a lot of listening to contemporary music to try to understand it. Music of the Renaissance had really specific structure – themes and phrases that were very methodical. It’s instantly pleasing to the ear. Contemporary music for the flute has a lot more to do with sound effects you can produce with the flute and extended techniques. It’s not always easy to hear (or play). But, I can really appreciate it. I feel the same way about poetry.

So how does grammar factor into poetry? Some poets flagrantly ignore and openly mock the rules of grammar. Read anything by e.e. cummings – he was well-known for breaking grammar rules. He wanted you to stop and think about what he wrote and search for a deeper meaning.  Personally, I like to read poems that are more symbolic in language; poems that make me think about something in a different light.

Not all poets are like e.e. cummings. Many poets will have neatly bundled sentences and proper capitalizations. Poetry, as a medium, appeals to the rebellious nature in a writer. Poets can take words and punctuation and change their spelling, their meaning, or just use them for decorations.

Like any creative expression, poetry needs to have some strongly established roots. Ignoring grammar rules in poetry because you don’t know them could be tricky. Chances are, your lack of grammar knowledge will be obvious and your attempt to conceal it in creative poetry will probably be unsuccessful.

My grammatical tip when it comes to poetry?  You need to know the rules before you can break them. Here’s a great example and one of my favorite poems, by Langston Hughes.

As I Grew Older

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun–
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky–
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.

“How are you?” is the question that seems to always follow a greeting. “Hi, how are you?” The non-committal answer for many is “I’m fine, thanks,” but some people will answer with “I’m good” or “I’m well.” Grammatically speaking, which is right? I’m good? Or I’m well?

Lt. Col. W. A. Rawl (1912-2007) was an English teacher at Greenbrier Military School — and is “The Colonel”  the Grammar Hammer quotes in this post.

If I were to ask my grandfather, The Colonel, he would say the correct answer is “I’m well” because well is an adverb and modifies verbs.

“Saying ‘I’m good’ is incorrect, granddaughter, because ‘good’ is an adjective and modifies a noun, not a verb.”

I hate to disagree with my grandfather on this (especially on what would have been his 101st birthday), but truth be told, answering the “How are you?” question with “I’m good” is actually grammatically fine.

Why? It’s because there is a difference between action verbs and linking verbs.

Action verbs are easy – they describe actions. Verbs like “run,” “dance,” “jump,” and “play” are all action verbs. If you’re describing an action verb, you’re going to use an adverb like well.

RIGHT: “She dances really well.”

WRONG: “She dances really good.” (And I will make a face like you’ve just dragged your nails across a chalkboard.)

“Well” as an adverb relates to all of those action verbs.

Linking verbs aren’t so much about actions as they are about connecting words together (or “copulative” verbs). “To be” is arguably the quintessential linking verb. If I say, “The cat is fluffy,” I’m linking the word “cat” with “fluffy.” Other linking verbs are ones that describe senses (find a nice list of linking verbs here).

QUICK TIP:  Remember that you can only use adjectives such as “good” and “bad” after linking verbs, you can’t use them after action verbs.

Getting back to why I’m good with good – everyone now understands the basic differences between action and linking verbs, right? Here’s why you can answer the “How are you” question with “I’m good” and be grammatically confident in your answer.

It’s called the “predicate adjective.” The predicate adjective refers to the noun before the linking verb. “How am I?” I (the noun) am (the linking verb) good (the predicate adjective).

Now, of course, nothing can be that simple as “well” is also used as a predicate adjective. I can also answer “How am I?” with “I am well.” Well, in this case, is used as a predicate adjective and generally refers to your overall health.

If someone is asking me how I’m doing because I’ve been ill, “I’m well” is an appropriate response. If someone is asking me how I’m doing on just your average day and not asking specifically about my health, “I’m good” is a more appropriate response. So, I’m good with good, grammatically.

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com.

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.

In honor of National Grammar Day (March 4), I thought I would take a look at a few rules surrounding capitalizations. The first rule is pretty easy; capitalize the first word of a sentence.

I was surprised to see that there are so many rules on capitalizations (Grammarly lists out 17 of them). I’m not going to go into all of them here, but I’ll cover the ones I see most often violated in the releases that cross my desk each day.

Rule #1 – Titles Preceding and Following Names

A formal title that precedes a name should be capitalized.

RIGHT: His Royal Highness Prince William and his wife are expecting their first child later this year.

WRONG: I read an article last week about prince William and his wife. (Prince, in this case, should be capitalized.)

Quick tip – remember that the title should be capitalized, but the job is not.

EXAMPLE: President and CEO of XYZ Corp., John Smith, is the company’s fourth president since its founding in 1935.

Rule #2 – Major Words in the Titles of Books, Articles, and Songs

I’ll be honest, this one confuses me. I look at my bookshelf and see titles of books in all lower-cased letters, title-cased letters, and all capital letters. Generally speaking, in informal writing, you can capitalize every word in the title. In formal writing, do not capitalize prepositions, articles, and conjunctions (unless they’re the first letter of the first word).

INFORMAL: The first book in the Harry Potter series is Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone.

FORMAL: The first book in the Harry Potter series is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

I must be a formal writer. I want to correct the informal version with my red pen.

Rule #3 – Names of specific groups (national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups)

Names of specific groups are proper nouns and should be capitalized.

EXAMPLE:  I’m a foaming-at-the-mouth, bleeding-heart Democrat.

EXAMPLE:  Everyone is wondering if the Chicago Cubs will ever win the World Series.

Go forth on March Fourth and conquer (grammatically)!

Have a grammar rule you’d like me to explore? Drop me a line at catherine.spicer@prnewswire.com

Author Catherine Spicer is a manager of customer content services at PR Newswire.