*A World without ‘Whom’,* by Emmy J. Favilla

Written by the chief copy editor at BuzzFeed, A World without 'Whom' addresses language in a fast-changing world. The title of the book refers to one of the greatest markers of this change, the use of the word "whom," often deliberately avoided for its datedness or unconsciously substituted with "who." Favilla provides an accessible take on various …

Conjunction agreement after neither/nor and weder/noch clauses in English and German

I have been doing some translating recently and have been having difficulty rendering sentences like this in English: Weder die Historie, die beweist, daß Jesu tatsächlich gelebt hat, noch die Tradition der Kirche, die solches immer schon gelehrt hat, kann und soll dieses Paradox einsichtig machen. I tend to settle with something like this: Neither …

Declension of “Dieser”

I haven't been able to find a good table on Google images for the declension of dieser so I thought I'd make one. Here is both a copiable text one and an image with colour coding. The declension is the same whether dieser is used as a pronoun or a determiner. Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Nominative dieser …

In Defence of the Nominative Me

In many registers of spoken English, it has become acceptable usage to say "me and you did this," etc, that is, using "me," typically the accusative or dative form of "I," in the nominative, though only when there is more than one subject. It is rarely said "me did this," because these rules tend to …

Gender-neutral Alternatives to “Man”

While gradually falling out of use, the general "man" is still sometimes used in various registers of English. So, "Man is a political animal." My favourite example is its use in Jurassic Park, which also demonstrates its limits by poking fun at it at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEOxq7aVKh4 Appreciation of the general "man" is especially …