For David........
The other morning (Friday, December 4, 2009) I happened to hear Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac” on WXXI-FM, the classical-music radio-station in Rochester we listen to.
Writer’s Almanac is a daily almanac of poetry and literary writing. It plays every day at about 8:20 a.m., and mentions the births and deaths of important literary characters.
Keillor mentioned some book “entitled” whatever.
Entitled to what?
Uh-oh, David; it looks like we’re gonna have to set Keillor straight.
A book is “titled;” never “entitled.”
Keillor is the self-declared el-supremo English Major.
“David” is L. David Wheeler, an editor at the Mighty Mezz, and keeper-of-the-flame.
Like me, David graduated nearby Houghton College, but in 1991; me in 1966.
I can tell. Proper spelling and grammar and syntax are instrumental to good communication, something you learned at Houghton by default.
I worked at the Mighty Mezz while David was there. The Executive-Editor at that time, Robert Matson (“MAT-sin”), was also a Houghton grad (1980); a stickler for correct spelling and grammar.
David was part of that secret society that can spell correctly, and get the grammar and syntax right.
I wasn’t that good, but cared (as a Houghton grad).
I still run my stuff through spellcheck, and proofread (edit).
I wasn’t that good at grammar, so I’d ask David.
One day he ranted about “entitle.”
“Ya don’t ‘entitle’ a book. Ya ‘title’ it. ‘Entitlements’ are for Lords and Ladies.”
“Ya better look up ‘entitle’ in your online dictionary before ya fly that,” my wife said.
“I don’t care,” I said. “David is entitled (WOOPS!) to his opinions.”
Years ago I did a voluntary newsletter for my bus-union. It was titled (entitled?) “282 News,” after the number of our local division (“Local 282”) of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union.
I had a rule I came up with myself, and it was my newsletter.
Nobody slated anything in the 282 News.
I changed it to “scheduled.”
• The “mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost four years ago. Best job I ever had. (“Canandaigua” [“cannon-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
• “Houghton College,” in western New York is from where I graduated with a BA in 1966. I’ve never regretted it, although I graduated as a Ne’er-do-Well, without their blessing. Houghton is an evangelical liberal-arts college.
• My wife of almost 42 years is “Linda.” She retired as a computer programmer.
• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY. While there I belonged to the local division (“Local 282”) of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union. My volunteer newsletter was in my final year. It was done with Word® on my computer.
Writer’s Almanac is a daily almanac of poetry and literary writing. It plays every day at about 8:20 a.m., and mentions the births and deaths of important literary characters.
Keillor mentioned some book “entitled” whatever.
Entitled to what?
Uh-oh, David; it looks like we’re gonna have to set Keillor straight.
A book is “titled;” never “entitled.”
Keillor is the self-declared el-supremo English Major.
“David” is L. David Wheeler, an editor at the Mighty Mezz, and keeper-of-the-flame.
Like me, David graduated nearby Houghton College, but in 1991; me in 1966.
I can tell. Proper spelling and grammar and syntax are instrumental to good communication, something you learned at Houghton by default.
I worked at the Mighty Mezz while David was there. The Executive-Editor at that time, Robert Matson (“MAT-sin”), was also a Houghton grad (1980); a stickler for correct spelling and grammar.
David was part of that secret society that can spell correctly, and get the grammar and syntax right.
I wasn’t that good, but cared (as a Houghton grad).
I still run my stuff through spellcheck, and proofread (edit).
I wasn’t that good at grammar, so I’d ask David.
One day he ranted about “entitle.”
“Ya don’t ‘entitle’ a book. Ya ‘title’ it. ‘Entitlements’ are for Lords and Ladies.”
“Ya better look up ‘entitle’ in your online dictionary before ya fly that,” my wife said.
“I don’t care,” I said. “David is entitled (WOOPS!) to his opinions.”
Years ago I did a voluntary newsletter for my bus-union. It was titled (entitled?) “282 News,” after the number of our local division (“Local 282”) of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union.
I had a rule I came up with myself, and it was my newsletter.
Nobody slated anything in the 282 News.
I changed it to “scheduled.”
• The “mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost four years ago. Best job I ever had. (“Canandaigua” [“cannon-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
• “Houghton College,” in western New York is from where I graduated with a BA in 1966. I’ve never regretted it, although I graduated as a Ne’er-do-Well, without their blessing. Houghton is an evangelical liberal-arts college.
• My wife of almost 42 years is “Linda.” She retired as a computer programmer.
• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY. While there I belonged to the local division (“Local 282”) of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union. My volunteer newsletter was in my final year. It was done with Word® on my computer.
posted by BobbaLew at 12:20 PM
5 Comments:
Careful here, Mistah Hughes...
en·ti·tle
Pronunciation: \in-ˈtī-təl, en-\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): en·ti·tled; en·ti·tling \-ˈtīt-liŋ, -əl-iŋ\
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French entitler, from Late Latin intitulare, from Latin in- + titulus title
Date: 14th century
1 : to give a title to : designate
2 : to furnish with proper grounds for seeking or claiming something
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
It would depend on what Keillor actually said. If he said, "The author entitled the book..." then he was correct. It's a transitive verb being used in the active voice, so it needs both a subject and an object, but no form of the helper verbs "to be" or "to have". The author is the subject, the book is the object, and the verb "entitle" is being correctly used in the sense of Definition 1. It would have been equally correct to have said, "The author titled the book..." because in this construction "title" is also a transitive verb being used in the active voice; both subject and object are present, and there is no use of the helper verbs "to be" or "to have."
The transitive verb "title" could also have been used correctly in the passive voice: "The book is titled..." The book did not title itself, so the passive voice, used to describe the state of being and incorporating a form of the verb "to be" is also correct. In this construction there is a subject, but there is no object; instead the title of the book (whatever it was) is a predicate nominative.
But if he said, "The book is entitled..." then he was wrong. That would be the use of the verb "entitle" in the passive voice (note the inclusion of a form of the verb "to be") and in the passive voice, the verb "entitle" can only mean "to have the grounds for a claim," Definition 2, hence your response, "Entitled to what?"
As a writer and a speaker, Keillor knows to choose the active voice whenever possible, unless he has a good reason not to.
I did not hear the piece, so I don't know what he actually said, but your complaint about Keillor's grammar is correct only if you were being as careful a listener as you expect him to be a speaker.
Easy now, Brother Charles.
I looked it up in my online dictionary, and I agree; it’s being anal.
Parry David. (dwheeler@messengerpostmedia.com)
He said “a book entitled.....”
This comment has been removed by the author.
As we used to sing at Houghton: “Quit your bitchin’, Charlie....”
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