Grammar Quest #3 - Answers

This post contains the answers to yesterday's post, Grammar Quest #3. If you didn't visit that post yet, you can find it here.

Below is the passage from yesterday with the mistakes marked and explained.

     Charlene took a sip of wine and resisted the urge to throw her glass of cabernet at her cousin's head. Gerald was too calm. He was either very arrogant or very stupid. 
     Gerald glanced around the cafe and leaned toward her. "Don't worry, Char. I have all the CEO's won over except Silverton, and I meet with him tomorrow."
     "*But he's the smartest one. It's going to take more than a smile and some boardroom slight of hand." *More than a few bold-face lies, too. "Regardless of how convincing you are he'll see right through it."
     "Have a little faith."
     "Faith is what got us into this mess."
     "Char, using the church as a client pool is genius. Silverton will wish he would of come up with the idea himself."
     "*If he doesn't steal it."
     "He won’t. You’re such a pessimist." 
     No, I’m an opportunist.
     Charlene sat her glass down and got up to leave. 
     Silverton won’t steal your idea because I’ll beat him to it.

Sentence fragment*

A sentence must contain a subject, a verb, and a complete thought. If any of those is missing, it’s a fragment. There are three sentence fragments in this passage (each marked with an asterisk). Normally, these are considered incorrect in writing, but the rules are different for fiction. If you don’t overuse them, and they don’t stumble the reader, their use is acceptable. Note: the subject can be an understood ‘you,’ as in the imperative sentence Have a little faith.

Improper plural of an abbreviation

CEO’s should be CEOs. Capital letters used as words usually form the plural by adding s (CMoS 16^th edition, 7.14, pg. 353). 

Incorrect idiom

Slight of hand should be sleight of hand. Slight means small (adj.) or to insult (v.). Sleight (n.) means use of dexterity or cunning, especially as to deceive.

Incorrect idiom… maybe

Many will tell you that bold-face lie should be bald-face lie. Though lying is bold, bald-faced (adj.) means shameless. Sources vary on which is correct. Best I can tell, the original version was barefaced lie. That evolved to bald-face and later gained the variation of bold-face, which many consider to be an incorrect usage. You’ll have to decide this one for yourself. Note: If you’re referring to bold text, use boldface (no hyphen).

Missing comma

In the sentence Regardless of how convincing you are he'll see right through it, there should be a comma after the word are. You must put a comma after an introductory phrase (CMoS 16^th Edition, 6.35 – 6.36, pg. 319). The exception is a phrase of three or fewer words, when leaving the comma out would not create ambiguity.

Usage error

Occasionally people use the preposition of when they should use the verb have. Would of should be would have or would’ve.

Usage error

In the sentence Charlene sat her glass down, the verb sat should be set. Sit and set are similar to lie and lay. You lie down (recline), but to lay something down, you have to have an object in your hand. To sit down, you bend your body so that your buttocks rest on something. To set something down, you have to have an object in your hand.

Here's the corrected version:

     Charlene took a sip of wine and resisted the urge to throw her glass of cabernet at her cousin's head. Gerald was too calm. He was either very arrogant or very stupid.
     Gerald glanced around the cafe and leaned toward her. "Don't worry, Char. I have all the CEOs won over except Silverton, and I meet with him tomorrow."
     "But he's the smartest one. It's going to take more than a smile and some boardroom sleight of hand." More than a few bald-face lies, too. "Regardless of how convincing you are, he'll see right through it."
     "Have a little faith."
     "Faith is what got us into this mess."
     "Char, using the church as a client pool is genius. Silverton will wish he would’ve come up with the idea himself."
     "If he doesn't steal it."
     "He won’t. You’re such a pessimist." 
     No, I’m an opportunist.
     Charlene set her glass down and got up to leave. 
     Silverton won’t steal your idea because I’ll beat him to it.

How'd you do?
Did you catch them all?