Rummaging through my pile of old magazines and books in search for anything to donate to Kaeskwela's Rummage Sale on November 19--which will benefit public school kids--I see this page of an old newspaper with underlined words. You see, when I read magazines and newspapers, I underline errors that I encounter, so I can have material for this blog. Sometimes, I write about them right away, but when I don't have the time, I save them in a "to post" folder. Now I can't find a snapshot of this one that's taken at the time I saw the error. So I take one and here it is. I know the lighting is bad. :)
So let's see. The word episodes should be singular--episode. There is only one "first" episode in a season; other succeeding episodes would not be the "first", technically. We can refer to the first few episodes, and say something about them. However, there is only one episode that shows Finn Hudson singing in the shower, and that's the episode where Will Schuester discovers him. There should also be an article (the) before the word shower. It's one of those parts of the house that need the definite article before them--e.g. in the kitchen, in the bathroom, on the roof, in the basement, (something) on the bed. Note, however, that we say She's in bed meaning She's resting or She's sleeping.
So a better construction, so far, is: In the first episode, one scene saw Finn singing in the shower....
Now let's talk about the part a Reo Speedwagon's hit. What are the errors?
Reo Speedwagon, in this context, is the name of band that was formed in 1967. The name comes from an automobile (a speedwagon, you guessed!) made by REO motors, which was founded by Ransom E. Old. Hence, REO. However, some articles say that the car company itself used REO (like Rio) to refer to their cars. Well, they probably didn't care how it's pronounced, as long as they sold cars, right?
Now anyone who knows much about music will probably pronounce the name like the sound of each letter. That is, ARE-EE-OH Speedwagon. That is what the band called themselves. Now that we know that Reo is pronounced as are-ee-oh, the proper article before the word is an, not a. That the word Reo begins with a consonant does not mean that the article before it should be a. As Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing , points out in her blog, the rule is that you use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel sound. It depends on the sound, not the letter. For example:
an hour a one-way ticket
an L-shaped kitchen a eulogy
an R & D consultant a ukelele
As you can see from above, the article depends not on the letter, but on the sound of the letter.
The author also used the possessive form Speedwagon's to refer to the song. This is also wrong. Although the indefinite article, by proximity, agrees with the Reo, it is still referring to the word hit (song). The name Reo Speedwagon functions as a proper adjective, just as in a Julia Roberts film. There is no need for an 's. Hey look, the article even agrees with the sound of the name of the punctuation mark (apostrophe)!
So a better construction, so far, is : In the first episode, one scene saw Finn singing in the shower an Reo Speedwagon hit.
Our sentence still sounds awkward, doesn't it? We just need to rearrange the words to come up with a smoother-sounding sentence.
In the first episode, one scene saw Finn in the shower, singing an Reo Speedwagon hit.
Or,
In the first episode, we see Finn singing an Reo Speedwagon hit while in the shower.
Or something similar.
A few sentences ago, I mentioned Kaeskwela, which is an organization that helps public school pupils. They are going to have a Rummage Sale on November 19 to raise funds for their cause. You may donate old books and magazines or drop by the venue and get yourself something to read. They have great comics collections, books, magazines, etc.
You see these kids below? They will benefit from that sale. Visit Kaeskwela's site for more details.
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