You Don’t Say

I don’t get much exercise during the week. Sure, there’s a treadmill in the exercise room of my condo building, but spending an hour on a treadmill is my idea of exercise hell because I get bored. So, most weekend mornings, after I have coffee and read the paper, I head out for an hour’s walk through my Studio City neighborhood. I try to focus and keep a strong, steady pace that will get my heart rate going.

Staying focused is a challenge, however, when I notice a sign like this one in front of the Sterling Salon and Spa on Ventura Boulevard:

Complementary valet parking

Complementary? With an “e?”

If the good folks at Sterling offer free valet parking to their customers, and I assume that ’s what the sign is meant to convey, then someone made a Spelling 101 mistake. When something is given free as a courtesy or favor, the correct word is complimentary, with an “i.” (Complimentary can also mean flattering, as in “After a visit to Sterling Salon, I received many complimentary comments about my hair style.”)

Complementary, with the “e,” has several different meanings, none of which mean free. A common usage of complementary is to describe things that fit together to form a whole or that fill out or complete something:

The Internet hasn’t killed the television–yet. In fact, according to a new study from Nielsen’s newly-formed TV/Internet Panel, television viewing and using the Internet are complementary activities. (from BizReport)

Come on, Sterling Salon and Spa. Keep your verbiage as well-groomed as your customers’ hair. You got it right on your Web site where you suggest we book a “complimentary consultation.” Fix that valet parking sign. Use nail polish or lipstick if necessary, but change that “e” to an “i.”

Better yet, keep things simpler–change complementary to free.

As an employee of the LA Unified School District, I have the opportunity each year to change my health benefits plan. Every fall, a letter arrives from the District informing me that the annual Open Enrollment, as it’s called, begins on November 1.

Here’s how this year’s letter begins:

Each year, the Health Benefits Committee, comprised of representatives from the LAUSD and each bargaining unit, review our benefits plans to determine if they are cost-effective….

Did you notice the subject-verb mistake? Committee is the subject of the sentence. As a collective noun, committee takes a singular verb. That means the verb should be reviews, not review.

OK, mistakes happen, especially when the subject and verb are separated by other words. But what’s the excuse for comprised of representatives? Although it’s a common expression, comprised of is wrong–always. The committee may be made up of representatives, or the committee may comprise representatives, but it’s never going to be comprised of something.

It was a banner week for misusing comprise. Here’s what else came across my desk last week:

From a professional journal for educational administrators:

The CTHSS [Connecticut Technical High School System], comprised of 17 regional locations, serves more than 10,500 students.

From an Internet news service, in an article about LA County Teachers of the Year:

The winning educators, comprised of 10 women and 2 men, teach a range of grades and subjects…. And in the same article, two paragraphs later, ….contestants submitted essays, lesson plans and other materials to judging panels comprised of peers.

Comprise means contain, made up of, or consist of. The nation (contains, is made up of, consists of) 50 states. If you’re conversant with active and passive voice, think of it this way–comprise is best used in the active voice followed by a direct object: The nation comprises 50 states.

At the risk of sounding like Joe Biden in a debate with Sarah Palin, let me repeat: comprised of  is always wrong.

Invitations to wine tastings are always welcome, even if they contain usage mistakes, as did the one I received this week. In part, it read:

Of all the influences on Chile’s wine industry, perhaps the most notable was Claude Gay, who brought more than 60 clippings to Santiago, including all the principle grapes of Bordeaux.

The principle grapes of Bordeaux? Even with a glass or two of wine, I know that principle should be principal.

Here’s an easy way to remember how these two words are used:

• Principle is used only as a noun. It means a rule, code of conduct, or truth (e.g., the principle of self-determination, a woman of principle).
• Principal is usually an adjective meaning chief or most important (e.g., the principal ingredient). It can also be a noun, usually meaning the person in charge of a school or a sum of money.

Confusing the two words is a common mistake, so don’t take it too hard if you didn’t spot the mistake in the wine tasting invitation. Even the country’s principal newspaper, the New York Times, has published articles misusing the two words (see: A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner, Oxford University Press, 1998).

If you’re not sure whether to use principle or principal, try the substitution test. Replace principle or principal with either rule (or truth) or chief. For example:

The chief grapes of Bordeaux. The principal grapes of Bordeaux.

Now let’s uncork that wine!

In the school district office where I work, we have a new HP laserjet photocopy machine. Instructions and messages pop up on a small digital screen, and you need a pass code to use the machine. Despite its many features–bound-book copying, two-sided copies, collating, stapling, automatic paper selection–I don’t like the machine very much. It’s slower than the previous copier, and I can never remember the pass code.

Which is all beside the point.

Last week, after I punched in the pass code, I got this message on the little screen: ORDER CARTRIDGE LESS THAN 3000 PAGES

Just like that–all caps, no punctuation. The message was hard to read for that reason, and I read it twice before I got it. I made a mental note to inform the secretary who handles the supply ordering.

On the way back to my desk, I thought about the message. Less than 3000 pages? Shouldn’t that be fewer than 3000 pages?

Maybe not, although conventional wisdom has it that fewer is used with plural nouns (fewer pages, fewer cars) and less is used to describe amounts and quantities (less energy, less money).

Think about expressions like in 25 words or less or less than 100 miles to go in which the 25 words and the 100 miles are thought of as whole quantities. Could the same rationale be applied to 3000 pages?

Maybe the folks who programmed the copier tossed this question around and decided on the whole quantity rationale. Or maybe they just wanted to use shorter words so they would all fit on that small screen.

A conversation about the Democratic primaries overheard in an LA restaurant:

He:      “So, who are you going to vote for? Hillary or Obama?”

She:     “Well, I don’t know who I’m actually for yet, but I think I’m leaning towards Hillary.”

Lean all you want, but use the correct object pronoun, please. If we can’t talk about race or gender during this campaign, can we at least bring up grammar?

He should have said, “Whom are you going to vote for?” And she should have replied, “I don’t know whom I’m actually for yet…”

OK, I’m making a fuss over nothing, you say. It was a casual conversation and they probably had had a glass of wine or two.

Granted. But the point is the English language has a perfectly fine object pronoun to use when the occasion arises—whom. And it’s pretty easy to figure out when to use who (subject pronoun) and whom (object pronoun).

• Who is used the same way he, she, and they are used—as a subject pronoun. In other words, if the pronoun in question is the subject of a clause or follows a linking verb, then who is the correct pronoun to use.  

• Whom is used the same way him, her, and them are used—as an object pronoun. If the pronoun in question is the object of a verb or a preposition, then whom is the correct pronoun to use.

So, back to the conversation. Try this test to figure out whether who or whom is correct—fill in the blank with he/she or her/him:

Are you going to vote for _____?

I’m actually going to vote for _____.

See what I mean? It’s not so difficult. Whom is the correct pronoun.

And I won’t even get into the sexist implications of referring to Senator Clinton as Hillary while Senator Obama is referred to by his surname.