 | eCachecommentary from down jersey |
The Then photograph was taken my senior year in high school in Middletown, DE. I am the one on the left. Steve is standing next to me. My friend Andrew took that photograph. I suspect this was the evening of the Latin dinner based on the way we are dressed, but it could have been for a day of classes for all I know. I do not recall. This would have been circa 1982.
The Now photograph was taken on 17 June 2008.
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Ah, a trip down memory lane. I’ve been playing with Google Street View and was able to come up with a few of the residences that way. One thing I noticed is that I lived in only one dorm at prep school and only one dorm at college and both created quads.
The ol’ homestead has changed since I lived there. It looks odd raised the eight feet it has been. We lived much closer to the ground, which allowed the Atlantic Ocean to visit us five times. The joys of living at the beach. (more…)
My folks sent me away to a fancy prep school. I think I struggled acclimating to an environment where the guy who lived next door to me flew back to school in the family’s LearJet, others whose parents were big wigs in business and government, and everyone seemed to come from a privileged background.
I learned a lot at that school, despite my adolescent insecurities. I am pretty certain that one of the things I learned was that pronouns are to agree with their antecedents. If not there, then I learned it in the “lesser” schools I attended prior to going to St. Andrew’s. I know I currently teach the skill in a public school fourth grade.
That is why I am surprised to have read the following just now:
PLEASE LIST THE NAME OF YOUR GUEST/SPOUSE WHO WILL BE ATTENDING REUNION SO WE CAN PROVIDE THEM WITH NAMETAGS.
THEM refers to the antecedent GUEST/SPOUSE. GUEST/SPOUSE is singular, THEM is plural. Forget the all caps and forget that English does not have a gender-neutral possessive pronoun to use for words such as guest and spouse. His is the traditional possessive pronoun to use in this case. I know, some folks state that does not work either. Fine. What we do have is a plural possessive pronoun whose antecedent is a singular noun. That is incorrect. At minimum, the sentence needs to be re-worded so not to end in a situation where a plural possessive pronoun can be contemplated to be proper for a singular noun.
So much for that subsidized $38,000 tuition.
My head cleaning weekend worked. I had a wonderful time in Baltimore.
I picked up a shutterspot on the way down, did some caches, ate, saw the sights, and had a good time with my friends. We don’t get together very often, but things went so well that it looks like there will be a sequel next summer.
Despite more logistical issues on the return trip, I remained relaxed and returned rested. Indeed, I cannot do it all. That is fine by me.
