Grammatacize

Let's be honest, I get pretty confused sometimes when I'm writing and I come to an a/an situation. Or a who/whom, etc. I've been meaning to look this up for awhile, so here goes.

A versus An:

Use A prior to all words beginning with consonants save the soft 'h'...like thus.

• I'm a nerd because I find joy in utilizing words appropriately.
• At the very least, I'm an honest nerd.

Use An prior to all words beginning with vowels...like 'zis.

• I'm an all-encompassing nerd.

Who versus Whom:

Use Who when you are asking or referring to the subject of the sentence:

• Who is going to the party tonight?: Check!
• Proof: To answer this question would you say he or him? He! This will make sense soon...

Use Whom when you are asking or referring to the object of the sentence:

• For whom is this party being thrown?
• Proof: To answer this question, you would say him, right? Notice how him ends in M? So does whom. If to answer a question you would say him then that means you should use whom. Get it? I thought that was quite clever. Not my cleverness, sadly, but greatly appreciated all the same!

To versus Too:

The easiest way to distinguish these two are as follows:

• Too should be used in the following situations: when emphasizing something in excess (That was way too obvious.) or when wanting to add something (He is coming to the party, too.)
• My trick for remembering the latter (about adding) is that if too is appropriate then it can be replaced with as well (He is coming to the party, as well.).
• I hear your question: Why don't you just say as well all the time? Because, I answer, that's irrelevant.

Who's versus Whose:

Use Who's when you are wanting to use a contraction.

• Who's going to the party tonight? (Earlier I used "Who is" = contractualized!)
• Can be "Who is" or "Who has"

Use Whose when you are talking about possession.

• Do you know whose car this is that I just hit? - A phrase that keeps floating around my office. Dear garage gods, please let it not be my car.

This concludes our lesson today on some of the basics. I realize half my sentences are improperly structured, I'm sure, based on some obscure rule or another. However, when it comes to that much detail, I will be leaving it up to my copy editor as he/she tears apart my future best-selling novel.