Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The Department of Words Matter is open again as one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit.

The others are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, the Department of “Just Saying,” and the Department of Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

After all, to do all this, I am management guru.

“HELMED” IS NOT A VERB:  Reporters at the Wall Street Journal wrote this lead-in to a major story a few days ago.

“Energy and environment agencies may be helmed during the second Trump administration by officials who have served under the president-elect before.”

Note the word “helmed.”  It is not a verb, though it was used in that way.  “Helm” is a noun.

Using helm as a verb bothers me almost as much as using the word “golf” as a verb.  It also is a noun.

You don’t “golf” your ball.  Golf is the name of the game you play.

So, please honor these prescriptions.

DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN SINGULAR AND PLURAL:  I have written about this before, but it still irks me when otherwise good writers mix this up.

An example:  Ever heard of a sentence like this:  ”The committee did their work.”

If you have, it’s wrong.  It should be:  “The committee did its work.”

And, if you don’t like that, then change it to this:  “The committee members did their work.”

See.  Now, isn’t that better?

IS IT “BETWEEN” OR “AMONG?”  The Wall Street Journal showed up recently with this lead-in to a story:

“Republican lawmakers are set to choose between John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott in a vote on Wednesday. “  [By the way, Thune won.]

That’s wrong.  The word “between” should have been the word “among.”

You cannot choose “between” three things.  Only “between” two.  “Among” three things?  Yes.

Wall Street Journal editors should have caught it.

AND ABOUT THE WORD “NONE.”  This word sounds bad in a sentence like this:  None of those persons is going to the theater.”

Note the word “is.”  It is the accurate word, though it might sound better to insert “are” instead of “is.”

Perhaps for this reason – the sound – it might better to change rules of language to allow the “are.”

But, oh well – not my job.