Yahoo! Answers

Hey Guys,

People who make grammatical errors drive me nuts. Or should I say, people whom make grammatical mistakes drive me nuts? How do you know when to say who and when to say whom?

The American Heritage Book of English Usage puts it like this: “Who is used for a grammatical subject, where a nominative pronoun such as I or he would be appropriate, and whom is used as the object of a verb or preposition.”

OK, great, but what the heck’s a nominative pronoun and what’s a preposition? Basically (and I had to look it up), a nominiative pronoun acts as the subject of a verb. For example, “Who put my underpants in the freezer?” Use the word “who” if you could swamp “who” for pronouns like “I” or “she.”

Contrast that to the object of a verb, also known as a direct object. That’s when you use “whom.” An example of that would be: “You saw whom near the freezer, looking all suspicious?” Use “whom” if you can replace it with “him” or “her.” If a pronoun ends with the letter “m,” it’s an object.

The Yahoo! Style Guide puts it like this: “One trick for finding the correct form is to recast the sentence in your mind, substituting he and him for who or whom. If him sounds correct, use whom.” Keep this in mind as well: “Sometimes it’s better to just rewrite a sentence to avoid a potential grammatical error or a grammatically correct but awkward or formal-sounding construction.”

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Flowers, breakfast in bed, and handmade cards are popular gifts to give to your mother on Mother’s Day.  Sunday, May 13, marks the day this year and in honor of mothers here are five fun facts about Mother’s Day:

1. Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world, mainly during the months of March, April and May.
2. The word for mother in most languages starts with the letter M.
3. Anne Marie Jarvis is the founder of Mother’s Day, but it didn’t become an official holiday until 1915.
4. Next to Christmas and Easter, Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday.
5. Red Carnations are the flower associated with Mother’s Day and is meant to honor mothers.

Happy Mother’s Day to our community enjoy your special day!  How do you plan on spending this Mother’s Day?  Please leave a comment below.

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Photo from Sony Pictures

Agent J (Will Smith) has exactly one day to rewrite history. To do this he has to travel back to the year 1969 to save his colleague Agent K (Josh Brolin/ Tommy Lee Jones) from the evil alien Boris.

In the third installment of “Men in Black,” set to release on May 25th, you have a chance to ask a question to Will Smith and/or Josh Brolin.

On May 17th,  both stars  will answer selected questions from the Yahoo! Answers community. Check back here for the filmed interview! So don’t miss out on this chance.

Click the link below and start asking!

Question: What would you ask Will Smith and Josh Brolin, and why?

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**Secret Revealed**

You probably don’t think about it much, but if you did, you’d notice that it often feels like one nostril or the other is always plugged. That’s completely normal for about 70% of adults.

Assuming you’re healthy, your “plugged” nostril actually allows a tiny amount of air through and your other nostril handles the rest. After an average of 2.5 hours, the cycle will shift and use the alternate nostril as the primary source of air. The following scan shows one nasal passage mostly blocked and the other mostly open.

For a long time, Eastern medicine has had theories about the purpose of this cycle and a number of exercises that involve moving air through a specific nostril. On the other hand, Western scientists didn’t come up with a physiological purpose for this phenomena until more recently.

Research indicates that the high/low flow approach in the two nostrils optimizes your sense of smell. As you’ve probably discovered first hand, or shall we say finger, the inside of your nose is lined with mucus. This mucus continues deep inside your nasal passage and is very important; it acts as a barrier and helps protect your brain from infection. But, it also means that something you smell has to be absorbed by the mucus before you can smell it.

This mucus absorbs different chemical compounds at different rates. Therefore, some smells are better detected when they are absorbed in more concentrated levels in the slow moving airstream of your plugged nostril while others are better smelled when absorbed in lower concentration through the fast moving airstream of the other nostril.

Humans have about 1.6 sq inches (10 cm²) of smell receptor cells in our nasal passage. By contrast, dogs have 17 times more space dedicated to these same receptors, and in greater density, which explains why their sense of smell is so much better than ours.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Thanks for reading,

Sources: wikipedia (Nasal Cycle, Olfaction)

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Growing up and growing old, two things that are inevitable for everyone and with the media obsessed with all things young it’s hard not to get a little depressed when seeing a new wrinkle on your face, or a softer belly.  So when Yahoo!’s in house Sketchy comedy series spoofed Fun’s “We are Young”, it became a viral hit.

The video lampoons what it’s like to be 10 years out of college, overweight, married, health problems, drinking problems and unemployed.  Fun’s original song is all about being young and carefree and hopeful of your future.  When you’re young, your primary concern is about having fun, having no responsibilities because you have parents to take care of practical details, and just thinking about what you want to be when you grow up.

So, when you finally leave that bubble of youth exuberance and realize all the clichés that you heard really are true, “time flies”, and “growing up is never easy”,  how do you cope with crushing reality?  Well, as the song parody says “I guess I’ll do elliptical. Maybe I can finally do that yoga class. But I probably won’t. HGTV. Going to stay at home. Watch Modern Family.”

When does “world is your oyster” mentality disappear and real life’s challenges, burdens and broken dreams begin?   Are you where you want to be?  Please leave a comment below.

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