Here’s another potpourri of usage problems that I have been gathering for a while.
∎ An AP piece in the Monitor tells us that “Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire’s chances to enter the Hall of Fame are dwindling.” The writer probably thought it was awkward to write “Roger Clemens’s, Barry Bonds’, Sammy Sosa’s, and Mark McGwire’s chances to enter the Hall of Fame are dwindling,” but he really shouldn’t have used only one possessive form. He had an easy way out, which was to jettison the apostrophes altogether and write “The chances of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire to enter the Hall of Fame are dwindling.”
∎ According to the Monitor, on a recent visit to the state, Sen. Rand Paul talked about “reigning in the size of government.” Perhaps this was meant to be a pun, given Republican criticism of an alleged imperial presidency, but I’ll go with “reining in” and the definition in Webster’s Ninth: “to check or stop by or as if by a pull at the reins.” Still the error suggests that the Republicans have a nifty chant to use at rallies: “Rein in reigning! Rein in reigning! Rein in reigning!
∎ The website of a DVD supplier sends an email headed “Here’s more new classic DVD and Blu-ray releases.” Here’s thus joins the ubiquitous there’s, probably making it futile to insist that Movies Unlimited should have informed me, “Here are more new classics.”
∎ To return to possessive problems, an email from a prestigious university during the football season tried to induce me to buy tickets with the announcement that “Harvard football looks to continue it’s winning ways this weekend.” I love the alliteration of those “w” words, but it indicates the contraction “it is.” In this case the possessive does not have an apostrophe. Neither do words like yours, ours and theirs. Yes, it’s only email, but it’s also Harvard, and if its techies can’t get it right, something’s rotten in Cambridge.
∎ Finally, CNN scrolls “Hostages freed from both France standoff sites.” As far as I know, France is still a noun and French is its adjective form. Since both have six letters, CNN isn’t saving any space by forsaking standard practice. What next? Will television soap operas feature more France kisses, gentlemen wear France cuffs, and people take France leave, employ France letters, drink France wine and eat France fries?
