Re: grammar tricks

[Kate Nicole Ranft <kater@csd.uwm.edu>]

Michael:

Excellent trick.  Thanks for help.  Here are some of mine:

If I want to know when to use who or whom, I look to the word directly 
after it.  If the word is a noun or a pronoun, I use whom.  An example:

This is the man _____ I saw at the restaurant. 

	the word to the right of the blank is "I" therefore WHOM.  

This is the man ____ helped me yesterday.

	The word to right of the blank is not a noun, therefore WHO.

Another way to check this is to substitute he/him for the main noun.  In 
the first sentence I can say "I saw HIM at the restaurant" = WHOM. In the 
second sentence I can say "HE helped me" = WHO.  

Please excuse my long explanation.  I use a similar trick to judge 
whether or not to use a comma after a conjuction in a long sentence. 

I went to the store_ and I bought some milk.

	When the word to the right of the conjunction is a noun or 
pronoun, I put a comma before the conjunction.

Neither of these rules are fail safe, but they work most of the time.  
Student's seem to appreciate a hint here and there.

-Kate Ranft