Comments on: Keeping up with the Joneses (or Is It Joneses’s?) http://www.stc-techedit.org/2007/11/30/keeping-up-with-the-joneses/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:57:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: malachai http://www.stc-techedit.org/2007/11/30/keeping-up-with-the-joneses/#comment-437 malachai Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:10:57 +0000 http://www.stc-techedit.org/2007/11/30/keeping-up-with-the-joneses/#comment-437 These two resources repeat baseless prescriptions like "don't use 'they' with a singular antecedent", and "don't use 'none' with a singular verb". These have never been real rules of English usage. A Writer's References would have us believe that "The winners are us" is wrong, and it should be "The winners are we." I would recommend instead two books that describe English grammar as it is actually used by real writers: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, and A Student's Introduction to English Grammar by Huddleston and Pullum. These two resources repeat baseless prescriptions like “don’t use ‘they’ with a singular antecedent”, and “don’t use ‘none’ with a singular verb”. These have never been real rules of English usage. A Writer’s References would have us believe that “The winners are us” is wrong, and it should be “The winners are we.”

I would recommend instead two books that describe English grammar as it is actually used by real writers: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, and A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar by Huddleston and Pullum.

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