Jim is an American who is looking after my English. Although we know each other only through the Internet, we have become good friends. As friends do, he seems to accurately understand what I want to say. In his retirement, he volunteers to teach English to immigrants from non-English speaking countries. In his working life, Jim taught university students and worked in personnel administration. He wrote articles for several business journals. He will write some columns for this page from time to time.

1. An English Grammar Problem

Here’s a grammar problem that bothers many English speakers. Can you get it right? Which of these sentences is grammatically correct?

A. John is one of those people who think very highly of themselves.

B. John is one of those people who thinks very highly of himself.

Many native-born English speakers, given these two sentences, choose the wrong one.

This is the essence of the problem. Relative pronouns like who have the same number (they are singular or plural) as the word they modify or go with. Does the pronoun who modify the plural noun people or the singular noun John?

Think of what the sentence is saying. It says that there is a group of people who think very highly of themselves, and John belongs to that group. Sentence A is correct.

Relative pronouns usually modify the noun they are nearest to. Good writers follow this rule.

2.Palindromes

When Adam, the first man, met Eve, the first woman, he said, "Madam, I’m Adam.” The story was made up to show us what a palindrome is. Palindromes have the same meaning, whether they are read forwards or backwards.

People spend a lot of time and ingenuity developing palindromes. Here are a few examples:

A Toyota
Dennis sinned
Drawn inward
Live not on evil, Madam; live not on evil

I assume that palindromes exist in every language.

And numbers can also be palindromes. Thirteen months ago we finished a palindromic year, 2002; there won’t be another one until 2112. When was the last palindromic year? How many palindromic years have you lived through?

And names can be palindromic, like Anna and Bob. Can you think of any palindromic names in Japanese?

3.Imply and infer

At times English speakers confuse these two words. When we imply, we hint at something; we express our thought indirectly.

The president implied that he would nominate her for an important position.

The professor implied that the examination would concentrate on the founding of the United Nations.

When we infer, we draw conclusions from something we have read or heard. When we infer, we are using our ability to reason.

People listening to the senator’s speech inferred that he had only limited knowledge of the economy.

It is the writer’s job to construct sentences so that there is no ambiguity
about what modifiers refer to; it is not the reader’s job to figure that out.
Yet misplacing modifiers is a fairly common mistake in English.

The New York Times, one of America’s foremost newspapers, is carefully
written and edited, yet it is possible to find misplaced modifiers in its pages. The
following sentence appeared in the Sunday Times of February 1, 2004, in
Section 9, page 12.

“At Princeton, where he enrolled in 1989, Mr. Rubin’s first business foray
was a T-shirt company he started with Greg Lauren, a nephew of the designer
Ralph Lauren who is now a painter and an actor.”

The modifier is “who is now a painter and an actor.” What does this modify?
In the above sentence it clearly goes with (modifies) Ralph Lauren. Has the ve
ry successful designer Ralph Lauren given up designing clothes and home
furnishings in order to become a painter and an actor? Even though that is what the
sentence says, it is very unlikely that Ralph Lauren has given up the career
he has worked so hard and so long for.

In all probability it is his nephew Greg Lauren who is now a painter and an
actor. The sentence should read

“At Princeton, where he enrolled in 1989, Mr. Rubin’s first business foray
was a T-shirt company he started with Greg Lauren, a nephew of the designer
Ralph Lauren and now a painter and an actor.”

The revised sentence says that Greg Lauren is a nephew of Ralph Lauren and
also tells us that Greg Lauren is now a painter and actor.

How many times have we gone to a public meeting and thought to ourselves,
"I hope that for once the mayor will not be long-winded."
The person is hoping that, on this one occasion, the mayor will speak briefly, even though he usually does not. Long-winded means speaking at great length and in a boring manner.

I suspect all English-speaking parents (and Japanese-speaking parents, too) have used sentences like these to their children when the children are not following parental requests or rules.

Turn that television off at once.
I want you to begin your homework at once.
When I call you, please come here at once.

One meaning of at once is immediately. In these three examples, the parent wants the children immediately to do what they are told.

At once also means simultaneously. As we advance in years, we may hear at once used in this question.

Can you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake at once?

And as we advance in years, it becomes more difficult to do that.

For once is a phrase that exasperated parents sometimes use.

For once, do your household chores without complaining.

Here for once means for this one time or in this one instance. It implies that the children usually complain about having to do chores,and the parents want, at least on this one occasion, not to have to hear complaints.

1. An English Grammar Problem

Here’s a grammar problem that bothers many English speakers. Can you get it right? Which of these sentences is grammatically correct?

A. John is one of those people who think very highly of themselves.

B. John is one of those people who thinks very highly of himself.

Many native-born English speakers, given these two sentences, choose the wrong one.

This is the essence of the problem. Relative pronouns like who have the same number (they are singular or plural) as the word they modify or go with. Does the pronoun who modify the plural noun people or the singular noun John?

Think of what the sentence is saying. It says that there is a group of people who think very highly of themselves, and John belongs to that group. Sentence A is correct.

Relative pronouns usually modify the noun they are nearest to. Good writers follow this rule.

2.Palindromes

When Adam, the first man, met Eve, the first woman, he said, "Madam, I’m Adam.” The story was made up to show us what a palindrome is. Palindromes have the same meaning, whether they are read forwards or backwards.

People spend a lot of time and ingenuity developing palindromes. Here are a few examples:

A Toyota
Dennis sinned
Drawn inward
Live not on evil, Madam; live not on evil

I assume that palindromes exist in every language.

And numbers can also be palindromes. Thirteen months ago we finished a palindromic year, 2002; there won’t be another one until 2112. When was the last palindromic year? How many palindromic years have you lived through?

And names can be palindromic, like Anna and Bob. Can you think of any palindromic names in Japanese?

3.Imply and infer

At times English speakers confuse these two words. When we imply, we hint at something; we express our thought indirectly.

The president implied that he would nominate her for an important position.

The professor implied that the examination would concentrate on the founding of the United Nations.

When we infer, we draw conclusions from something we have read or heard. When we infer, we are using our ability to reason.

People listening to the senator’s speech inferred that he had only limited knowledge of the economy.