Judging from Trent’s latest post, I don’t think he’s read these comments.

Examples of singular-plural disagreement from Trent’s latest post:

“Quite often, the criteria doesn’t even involve anything tangible…”

Criteria is plural, criterion is singular. The verb should be “don’t”, not “doesn’t.”

“You can pretty quickly tell a frugal person from a non-frugal person by their brand preferences.”

Back to the “his/her” vs. “their” problem.

P.S. I do like that most of your comments are very specific and easy to learn from.

Now I have to grammar-police myself. That should have been “an amateur”, not “a amateur.” Typo. Ouch. $50 fine for me.

The point of my comment was not to bash Trent over the head, but to make him aware that poor execution of his ideas (grammatical and stylistic errors) detracts from those ideas. The errors make him sound amateurish and not to be taken seriously as a writer.

A few words about writing…

One does not have to be a professional writer to use words well. Good writing and language skills are useful regardless of one’s profession. My writing skills have differentiated me from my colleagues and peers, and in more than one instance, helped me secure a job.

I am an engineering professional by trade. Although my job primarily involves implementation of technology, I find myself writing technical white papers with some regularity. I am often sought out for plain-language explanations of highly technical issues for non-tech managers who have neither the background nor the time to wade through technical documents filled with jargon, diagrams, and obtuse language.

How do I do it?

Short declarative sentences. Full word usage, followed by the acronym in parentheses, upon first instance. Clear analogies to everyday things to make complex topics understandable. Logical introduction of topics and issues so as to not overwhelm the reader.

And above all, proper language, spelling, grammar, and syntax.

Another horror is the swapping of “me” and “I” out of their correct places – “Me and John went to the mall,” for instance, or “He talked to John and I about that.” (Shudder! Trent, I’ve known you to do the latter.) If in doubt, leave John out of the sentence and see how it sounds. Would you say, “Me went to the mall,” or “He talked to I about it”?

On singular-plural inconsistency: Political correctness now insists that the masculine singular pronoun used generically “privileges” men and ignores women. Doesn’t the alternate construction “privilege” the collective and ignore the individual? After all, we’re not ants or bees, are we? “Nobody likes their dinner, but everybody likes their dessert.” Singular for the verb “to like” and plural for the possessive pronoun? It’s downright painful.

In most communities, the police are regarded as important members of the community, disliked mostly by those they are hired to keep in check. Why should the Grammar Police not share that respect?

Sorry to sound so picky, but you are now a professional writer, not an itinerant blogger. I think you need to hone the tools of your trade (word choice, grammar, spelling) to reflect your new professional status. As Emeril would say, “Kick it up a notch!”

I wince whenever I see the typical errors in your writing, such as the following:

Single vs. plural disagreement. Yes, there’s no good gender-neutral possessive singular word in English. Using “their” is not a substitute for “her/his.” Either use the inclusive terms, e.g. “her/his” instead of “their,” “s/he” instead of “they,” or rewrite your pieces so you don’t run into those grammatical constructions.

Overuse of words. If I see you overuse the word “strong” or “strongly” again, I will have to buy you a thesaurus. Ditto for “truly.”

Failure to distinguish between inanimate things vs. humans when using pronouns. Learn when to use “who” vs. “that.”

It’s not all bad, by the way. You seem to know appropriate usage of apostrophes, one of my pet peeves. And your spelling is usually ok (spell-check, perhaps?).

I just think that the writing skill level expected of a professional is (rightfully) higher than that of a amateur. There’s more to the writing craft than ideas and story development, the basic mechanics of language usage need to be addressed as well.

Again, sorry if this comes off as me being picky. It’s intended to be a wakeup call for self-improvement.

John DeFlumeri Jr