Glossary

Avoid using “when,” “where” and “why” after “is.” The error is common in definitions, which should never begin “A is when.” A definition of a noun should be a noun phrase:

WRONG: Photosynthesis is when plants exposed to light form carbohydrates.

RIGHT: Photosynthesis is the formation of carbohydrates by plants exposed to light.

The Keables Guide recommends using “when” and “how” to introduce adverbial clauses, not noun clauses. In other words, use them after action verbs, not linking verbs.

ADVERBIAL CLAUSE (modifying “play”): You can play when you find your homework.

ADVERBIAL CLAUSE (modifying “remember”): I don’t remember where I put it.

The expressions “is when” and “is where” and “is why” are slightly informal and imprecise; so are “is if,” “is how” and “is because.” For formal writing requiring precision (for example, academic papers that include definitions and analysis), the Keables Guide recommends against using them. Often the error can be corrected simply by substituting a noun or noun phrase for the conjunction:

INFORMAL: Fear of the spread of Communism is why the US intervened in Vietnam.

BETTER: Fear of the spread of Communism is the reason the US intervened in Vietnam.

(like) when, like how, like in

“Like” is a preposition and should be followed by a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun:

VAGUE: We dressed like how they did in the 1960s. We dressed like in the 1960s.

BETTER: We dressed as people did in the 1960s. We dressed like hippies from the 1960s.

VAGUE: Boo Radley is kind to the children, like when he puts dolls in a tree.

BETTER: Boo Radley performs kind services for the children, like putting dolls in a tree.

Phillip Alford as Jem and Mary Badham as Scout in the 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird.

whether or not

Usually a redundancy for “whether”:

WORDY: I wonder whether or not I should go.

BETTER: I wonder whether I should go.

which

Often misused as a vague connective between ideas. Careful writers make sure that the pronoun “which” refers to a specific noun or noun phrase. There are two ways to correct the vagueness. One is to supply a noun or noun phrase (in the example below, “His speeding”) to which the pronoun refers:

WRONG: He drove too fast, which frightened me and made me stop riding with him.

RIGHT: His speeding, which frightened me, made me stop riding with him.

The second way to correct the error is by restructuring the sentence to eliminate “which”:

WRONG: Huck Finn often doubts what people say, which indicates his intelligence.

RIGHT: Huck’s critical questioning of things people say indicates his intelligence.

Get in the habit of testing your pronouns. Anytime you write “which,” ask yourself which word in the previous part of the sentence is the subject or object of the verb that follows “which.” In the previous example, there are only two nouns:

Huck Finn often doubts what people say, which indicates his intelligence.

Which are you saying?

WRONG: Huck Finn indicates his intelligence.

WRONG AND UNGRAMMATICAL: People indicates his intelligence.

WRONG: What people say indicates his intelligence.

Since neither makes sense, you know your use of “which” is vague.

What is wrong with the following two sentences? How could you correct them?

My brother always complains about the food Mom cooks, which I hate.

Only one passenger died, which was sad.

while

Use “while” carefully. Readers will first assume that it means “at the time that.”

CLEAR: The Civil Rights movement was underway while she was a college student.

In the sentence above it is clear that “while” means “at the time that.”

MISLEADING: Thoreau advocated peaceful protest while Malcolm X advocated violence if necessary.

Here “while” at first seems to mean “at the time that,” but because Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) lived a century before Malcolm X (1925-65), the writer must mean “whereas” or “although.”

AMBIGUOUS: King advocated peaceful protest while Malcolm X advocated violence if necessary.

Now both “while” and “although” make sense (because the two men lived at the same time), but the reader cannot tell which point the writer is making.

Sometimes there is little danger of misreading the use of “while” to mean “whereas,” even though the reader may briefly hesitate:

CLEAR: Modern reptiles are flightless, while some dinosaurs could fly.

The Keables Guide recommends that you find an alternative to “while” if there is a possibility of misreading.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (left) with Malcolm X, at their only meeting, on March 26, 1964.

who, whom

Usually “who” is used before a verb, and “whom” is used before a noun or pronoun and after a preposition. Look at your sentence and identify which situation applies (the chart shows statements and questions):

Subject of verb She is the one who loves me. Who loves me?

Object of verb She is the one whom I love. Whom do I love?

Object of preposition He is the one to whom I spoke. To whom did I speak?

Complement of linking verb I know who it is. Who can it be?

When you use “whom,” beware of leaving a preposition hanging at the end of a sentence or clause:

WRONG (hanging preposition): Pip learns whom he should be grateful to.

WRONG (extra preposition): Pip learns to whom he should be grateful to.

RIGHT: Pip learns to whom he should be grateful.

For more information about “who” and “whom,” see Wh in Part One.

who’s, whose

“Who’s” is a contraction of “who is”; “whose” is a relative pronoun in the possessive case. Ask yourself if you can substitute “who is.”

WRONG: Whose to say who’s fault it was?

RIGHT: Who’s to say whose fault it was?