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- Title
Writer's Notebook: Slips that Pass in the Night.
- Authors
Erb, Lyle L.
- Abstract
People who have been out of school a few years may be forgiven if we do not answer without hesitation. But it is hoped that their correct usage would be part of our idiom. In English, then, a gerund is a verbal noun ending in "-ing." A genitive is the Latin term for the possessive case. In certain constructions, a gerund requires the genitive. Some modern linguists excuse them with the grammatic neologism "nexus." In each, the pronoun follows a preposition e.g. "for" and "of" or a verb "resent". Possibly that explains why the pronouns are in the objective case. But grammar and logic requires the genitive e.g. "his," "my," and "their", before the gerund e.g. "having," "going," and "interfering". The Collins-World, with other dictionaries, lists "transatlantic," one word, no caps, no hyphen. Jack White, anchorman for KGTV Channel 10 local news, describing San Diego, California's, disastrous residential fires, referred to "one family as it tried to save their belongings." He should make up his mind whether the collective noun refers to a unit or the members.
- Subjects
ENGLISH gerund; GRAMMAR; ENGLISH grammar; GERUNDS (Grammar); NOUNS; VERBS; TELEVISION news anchors
- Publication
Public Relations Quarterly, 1986, Vol 31, Issue 1, p32
- ISSN
0033-3700
- Publication type
Article