Margie Holds Court

I am late getting this post up.  I apologize for that.  I promise two excellent posts next week to make up for that.

Last week, we had a speaker who has been teaching forever, a true English nut.  Well, while she was with us, she left us her email and her blog, which can be found at her website www.margieholdscourt.com.

Her target audience is definitely court reporters, but because her subject is on correct grammar and punctuation, this is valuable for any writers and readers, or just those interested in knowing what the English language is about.

Her blog posts are short and to the point (a talent that I haven’t aspired to) and she covers all varieties like prepositions, phrases, clauses, how to properly use the period and comma, and all such delightfulness that make English the joy that it is.

You can stop gagging when I say that.  It’s rude.

Frankly, though, the reason why this site has become an instant treasure for me is that Margie has finally cleared up how to properly use “who/whom.”  I should have known this a long time ago, like grade school.  The thing is, I never had one teacher who took five minutes out of their day to instruct us in that.  I’ve gone through high school, college, read the random reviews, and heard teachers and reviewers complain about how nobody knows how to use “who/whom”…and never tried to rectify the problem.

It’s been guesswork to me all these years, until Margie came and saved my life: equate “who/whom” with “he/him.”  For example, let’s look at the famous Hemingway title, For Whom the Bell Tolls—a book I will read one of these days.  I swear.

So looking at that title, the line “for whom the bell tolls” could be rewritten as “the bell tolls for him.”  If the title were “who tolls the bell,” it would mean “he tolls the bell.”

That’s all it would have taken them to explain these two little, irritating words.  Now, I’m not saying that other people haven’t made it so simple either.  I have just never made contact with them.

On the other hand, I am quite willing to admit that I just might be an idiot and the site was the final push to get it through my head.  In either case, check it out.  It’s awesome.