The number of people who use “whom” and “who” wrongly is appalling. The problem is a difficult one and it is complicated by the importance of tone, or taste. Take the common expression, “Whom are you, anyways?” That is of course, strictly speaking, correct - and yet how formal, how stilted! The usage to be preferred in ordinary speech and writing is “Who are you, anyways?” “Whom” should be used in the nominative case only when a note of dignity or austerity is desired. For example, if a writer is dealing with a meeting of, say, the British Cabinet, it would be better to have the Premier greet a new arrival, such as an under-secretary, with a “Whom are you, anyways?” rather than a “Who are you, anyways?” - always granted that the Premier is sincerely unaware of the man’s identity. To address a person one knows by a “Whom are you?” is a mark either of incredible lapse of memory or inexcusable arrogance. “How are you?” is a much kindlier salutation.
The Buried Whom, as it is called, forms a special problem. That is where the word occurs deep in a sentence. For a ready example, take the common expression: “He did not know whether he knew her or not because he had not heard whom the other had said she was until too late to see her.” The simplest way out of this is to abandon the “whom” altogether and substitute “where” (a reading of the sentence that way will show how much better it is). Unfortunately, it is only in rare cases that “where” can be used in place of “whom.” Nothing could be more flagrantly bad, for instance, than to say “Where are you?” in demanding a person’s identity. The only conceivable answer is “Here I am,” which would give no hint at all as to whom the person was. Thus the conversation, or piece of writing, would, from being built upon a false foundation, fall of its own weight.
How to disable iCal email notifications
- Heres the simple recipe: 0) Close iCal. 1) Open /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/Mail.scpt
- (You will have to right-click the iCal.app file to open (or show) "content of package" in Finder.) 2) Before you do, please right-click the file and choose compress "Mail.scpt" to make a zip-backup in case something goes wrong. 3) Right-click the Mail.scpt and choose to open in Script Editor. 4) Make the changes (se code below). 5) Press the compile button 6) Close window and save changes on exit. 7) Open iCal and test it by making changes to an event with a participant-email attached. Basically, all I've done is to change the 2 occations of: send mymail with activate -- line added
- -- send mymail That is: out commententing out "send mymail" and adding the command activate to bring the email-window to the front.
Diagramming Sentences
For serious!
“Howard Dully was one of the youngest patients to receive an “ice pick” lobotomy. … In collaboration with Sound Portraits producers Piya Kochhar and Dave Isay, Dully embarked on a remarkable two year journey to uncover the hidden story behind the lobotomy he received as a 12-year-old child.” http://www.soundportraits.org/on-air/my_lobotomy/
BBC Learning English | Grammar Challenge
Mp3 programs from the BBC on specific grammar issues for English learners

