Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Comments on previous tips:

Comments regarding Tip #454: 

Christine Carpentier’s question: 

Gloria, I am confused about a rule for their and there.  I wrote a document and the word their was changed to there, because I was not talking about a person.  The phrase is as follows:

"She knows how to correct sentences without changing their meaning"

Can you please let me know what the rule is?

Gloria Huerta commented:

I’d like to take a stab at answering Christine’s question.  While the common use of the word “their” is to refer to people it is a possessive word.  In other words, no matter what or who is being referenced in a sentence, the use of the word “their” is valid and appropriate.  I am writing a few sentences to illustrate my explanation.

The children watched their class win a soccer match.

The forest rangers had to drive their trucks out of harms way after the flooding rains.

The firefighters fighting wildfires have had tremendous strain put on their equipment.

Fox Cole commented on Victoria Macdonald’s question on Tip #458.  She asked the following: 

This sentence prompted a lot of conversation the other night, regarding what is grammatically correct:

I said, “My mother was concerned about us getting a good education.”  Some believed it should be “My mother was concerned about our getting a good education.”

Fox’s explanation : Both sentences use the gerund phrase as a noun, but isn't the question actually about "us" versus "our"? The mechanics of the grammar depend on whether the gerund phrase is being used as a participial phrase modifying "us" (per the Chicago Manual of Style, 15 ed., 5.109, parallel to the example "she pointed to the chef drooping behind the counter"), or whether it's being used as the object of a verb so it takes the possessive "our" (see for example CMS 5.110). 

The meanings are slightly different and the choice depends on what the sentence should emphasize. In the first example, the emphasis is on "us" as the object.  My mother was concerned about us, with regard to getting a good education. Her worries center on our future well-being. The second example emphasizes the action of getting a good education, so her concern is more about whether or not one would be available to us; she's perhaps worried about how to provide it.

The difference is subtle, but to me, that's the beauty of our language: it can be that gently precise in nuance.

Mary McLaughlin adds:

In determining which sentence is correct, we need to know the intent of the sentence.  If Mother is simply concerned that all of her children get a good education, then the second sentence is correct.  The emphasis here is on "education," not the people getting it.  However, if there is some reason that everyone except her children would get a good education, and Mother wants to make sure her children get one too, then the first sentence is correct. The emphasis here is on the people who are getting the education, not the education itself.