When to Use the Subjunctive

When you have a sentence that’s contrary to reality!

I’ve mentioned this in the past (use the search box on the right) but I thought this example was clear (funny) enough to justify a repeat:

Gullible
https://www.savagechickens.com/

Anyway, he should have said, “I wish I were less gullible.” I know a few people who could use one of those rocks…

What’s a Clerihew?

Well, I find it easiest to quote Wikipedia:

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem’s subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes are often forced. Wikipedia

I should add that the meter is rather informal.

I subscribe to Scientific American. Recently the renewed a practice of including a page of poetry in their magazine. Seems weird to me, but so far the poems have been pretty much science oriented, so they fit, even if the practice feels funny to me. Their Clerihew page has been littering my desk for a couple months now, and I’m finally getting around to posting about it.

So I challenge you to write a Clerihew and post it. Here’s one off the top of my head:

Rogers George writes Writing Rag
At first he thought it’d be a gag
But comics and grammar go together,
So he wrote a post and then another.

Your turn!

A Good Example of an Incorrect Parallelism

  • This is a really long sentence, so I made the parallel words bold.
  • The sentence is also from two months ago, so the politics is out of date, and I always tell you to ignore the politics anyway; this is a blog about writing and grammar.

Okay, now to the grammar. The rule is that parallel constructions should have the same form. See what the writer did here?

As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that breaching the debt ceiling would delay Social Security payments and military paychecks, as well as jeopardizing the status of the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) offered Senate Republicans “a way out” from having to participate in raising the ceiling, despite the fact that the Republicans had added $7.8 trillion to the now-$28 trillion debt during Trump’s term.

https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxtkEtuxSAMRVfzGEb8QsOAQSfdRsTHIagJRIa0ze7LexlVqmTZA1_76lxvG8SClzlKbeTZ5nYdYDJ81w1aAyRnBZxTMGKiUilFgpGBTeNEUp0XBNht2kzDE8hxui1521LJzwNORyHIavS4LHqUIMBap8AHRynTzrugGXDhb1t7hgTZg4EvwKtkIJtZWzvqQ7w_-EevFWxbAX35weRXi6GWPNTT1Wb95-DL3jUkdVvOqOaajlxxOfCB-YXxYIOeqFfL4gdcXVTbZh-S7pH_eUHQYImAdYhQMEKXxCfga9f55j73M6d2zZCt2yDc6O0O8BXGHCED9mDDbJthSvBJC0nZxMcbtWcjmZZv48RINw-lX2XzH94vakuPUg

Sounds funny when I point out the crooked parallelism, doesn’t it? The second verb should be “jeopardize” to match “would delay. (You can assume a “would” before “jeopardize.”)

They Got “Comprise” Backwards

These folks certainly aren’t dummies, but they’re guilty of a pretentiousism, using a fancier word than necessary, and in this case, the word is also incorrect. First the sentence:

Each of those 200-odd collisions generated enough energy to make two charm-flavored quarks, which weigh more than the lightweight quarks that comprise protons, but less than the gigantic “beauty” quarks that are LHCb’s main quarry..

https://www.quantamagazine.org/impossible-particle-discovery-adds-key-piece-to-the-strong-force-puzzle-20210927

  • The sentence should have “compose,” which starts with the parts that then make a whole thing. They could even have said “…that make protons.”
  • “Comprise” starts with the whole thing, then mentions its parts. The early United States comprised 13 colonies.

At least they didn’t write “comprised of.” Gack.

Here’s a picture that goes with the article:

Why Choose a Call Tracking Service?

A call monitoring service is a system that allows marketers to calculate the worth of incoming calls generated by the marketing strategies. Businesses can use the software to provide regional or toll-free mobile numbers quickly and efficiently, and then link those calls with commercials, websites, search terms, or any other effort. The outcomes are then monitored and analyzed, usually in a CRM.

Call tracking service can be shared in full detail with inside marketing professionals taking phone call once it has been recorded in a CRM application. This information can be utilized to express the customers’ intentions and assist salespeople in having more informed dialogues. Operator intent information could be used to effectively route calls to marketing specialists when the call monitoring system is connected with a communication network.

How do call tracking technologies help with marketing issues?

Call monitoring software may aid with sales leads, lead credit, and market analysis, among other marketing issues. It could also assist you in discovering new business prospects depending on what the contacts and current clients have to say.

Below are some problems that call monitoring helps with:

Identifying which advertising outlets are responsible for phone conversations

Among the most common uses for call monitoring software is to monitor conversations by the campaign. It’s hard to determine not just how many offers are pouring in over the Smartphone, and also which sources are generating the contacts in the first instance, without call monitoring. Call monitoring helps you to see which strategy generated every call by displaying a distinct mobile number connected with every marketing tool.

Identifying qualified prospects

You can evaluate the calls utilizing the call tracking service, call recordings and call transcription tools to see if they’re originating from potential leads. This offers you the ability to make strategy modifications, concentrate the ad budget on what converts, and prioritize checking up with the finest leads.

Identifying the keywords that lead to phone conversations

Call tracking boosts the effectiveness of the paid campaigns by revealing which searches are generating leads and sales. The call tracking service provider will allocate numbers from the mobile number pool to every other client with visitor level call monitoring, enabling you to see who is contacting you and how they discovered you on the internet.

Why you must choose a Call tracking service?

It’s both informative and practical

Get the information you need to jumpstart your business. Every engagement you have with your advertising, keywords, and strategies is visible. Then redirect marketing funds away from what is not functioning and toward what is.

Strong but uncomplicated

Quickly get up to speed with the fundamental tools, then upgrade to the comprehensive, adaptable platform as your needs grow. Many businesses face benefits on day one, despite how simple it is to establish.

A single, unified framework 

To push the business to new heights, you wouldn’t need a jumble of things. Call tracking service is best for those relying on calls, leads, and new clients to succeed. So they can figure out what’s functioning and what’s not. Most of the clients are entrepreneurs, agents, car dealers, and so on. Call tracking service helps them to find out the ads, strategies, or keywords that are worth the time and cost.

Call Tracking Pro Also Offers Following Services:-

Simple Call Tracking Software

Advanced Call Tracking

Call Tracking Recording Software

Phone Call Tracking

It Sounds Wrong, But Technically, It’s Right

Singular subjects get a singular verb, right? And plural subjects get a plural verb. (We call this agreement.) So is the subject of this sentence singular or plural?

So when nearly 1 in 8 couples struggles to get pregnant today, it is not surprising that experts like Dr. Ryan P. Smith of the University of Virginia are called upon for help.

https://theconversation.com/male-fertility-is-declining-studies-show-that-environmental-toxins-could-be-a-reason-163795

Let’s be technical: “1” is the subject of the sentence, and it’s a singular. “8 couples” is a plural, but it’s the object of the preposition “in.”

Now let’s be, um, poetic: “1 in 8 couples” obviously refers to a group of people, especially since we’re referring to a large population of people. We can be metaphorical and call the whole phrase the subject of the sentence semantically, right? So we could use a plural verb, right?

What do you think? Feel free to add something in the comments.

Here’s the picture from the article: