Sorting out who and whom

Sorting out who and whom

 

With music for today's lesson by 



Having trouble figuring out the difference between who and whom? I'm hoping your troubles will end after you read today's lesson.

It will take a bit of explanation, but the quick and simple 
formula     goes like this:


Who is for subjects and whom is for objects.


Remember that and the rest should be fairly easy.


First of all, both who and whom are pronouns. What's a pronoun? Here's one definition:



 
Or you could try Merriam-Webster's take, which oddly enough fails to even mention "amateur status"!

pro·noun

noun \ˈprō-ˌnau̇n\

Definition of PRONOUN

: any of a small set of words in a language that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context 

Those substitutes mentioned in the definition are pronouns like who, whom, he, she, I, you, me, us, someone, nobody, they, your, them, this, those, him, few, another, each, neither and so on.

Unless you're The Incredible Hulk    ("Hulk is angry. Hulk does not like clobberin' time. Hulk thinks clobberin' time is dumb!") you use pronouns all the time to vary your speech and writing.

The key here is knowing which pronoun to use, who or whom (or whoever/whomever). 

To do that, you have to know the difference between a subject pronoun and an object pronoun. 

Basically, the subject is the person or thing doing the action:

Who hit the home run? ("who" did the hitting)

He is the one who dropped the ball ("who" did the dropping)

Whoever eats the last cookie needs to buy more. ("Whoever" does the eating)

The object is the person or thing that is either the direct or indirect result or recipient of the subject's action. 

The    dictionary describes a direct object as a word or phrase denoting the goal or the result of the action of a verb.

Example:

 

He threw the rock. The direct object, the word that is "the result of the action of a verb," is rock. He (the subject) threw (the verb, the action taking place) ... threw what? He threw the rock, the direct result of his action. Thus it is called the direct object, for it is the "object" most directly impacted by the action.

An indirect object is defined as a grammatical object representing the secondary goal of the action of its verb. 

That sounds a bit fancy, but it means an object that is, as the term suggests, indirectly involved in the action.

The dictionary has a good example:  

In the sentence “They built a house for her,” the direct object is “house” and the indirect object is “her.”  

To break it down, the direct result of the action "built" was what? A house was built. "Her" indirectly was impacted (the action or verb didn't involve her directly, only the house), as in the house that was built was given to her. Thus "her" is the indirect object.

A few more examples just to make it clear:
1) John gave Ella the book. The book is the direct result of the action "gave," as in he gave what? He gave the book. Ella is the indirect object that is indirectly impacted by the action, the giving. Why is she indirect and not direct? Because John (subject) gave (verb) the book (direct result of the action or verb)  ... John didn't "give" Ella, he gave something TO Ella. Got it?

2) Mom fed the baby her bottle. Mom (subject) fed (action or verb) .... fed what? She fed the bottle (the direct object) TO the baby (the indirect object). 

One final note and I'll move on to who/whom: Whenever you use a preposition (with, of, from, for and many more) to make a prepositional phrase, the item inside the phrase takes an objective pronoun, not a subjective pronoun. 


Some correct examples (the prepositional phrases in italics):

He did it for me. (objective pronoun me)

For Bill and me, it was fun. (objective pronoun me)

With us involved, it was easy. (objective pronoun us)

Now how does all this relate to who vs. whom? If the pronoun is the subject, you use who. If it's an object (direct or indirect or the object of the prepositional phrase), then you use whom.

Who:

Who are you? 

Who wants the last cookie?

Who did that?

Are you the man who called?

She is someone who is an expert.

This is who I am. 

Whom:  

He told the police whom he shot. (He is the subject, shot is the action and whom is the object or recipient of that action)

With whom are you writing that book? (As object of the prepositional phrase, an objective pronoun goes there, as in whom and not who)

If I knew whom to tell, I would. (I is the subject, tell is the action, so whom is the object or item receiving the telling)

Whom did he call? (He is the subject, call the verb and the recipient or thing impacted by the call is the object, or whom)

A few tricky constructions: 

Some sentences may seem to call for whom, but you have to sort through the wording to attach the subject to the verb and ignore what is essentially a parenthetical phrase between the two.

What do I mean?

Sue is the one who police believe is the killer. You might look at that sentence and think whom because you have a subject, police, and a verb, believe, so who/whom here must be an object and thus whom, right? No. Who is in this construction not an object but the subject, or the killer. This is what I mean by essentially a parenthetical phrase. If you put "police believe" in parentheses it becomes a lot clearer:

    

Sue is the one who (police believe) is the killer. Do you see it now? You would say who is the killer? and not whom is the killer? Draw an arrow from who to is and the path is clear.

Another similar example:

John is the one who many feel is the best candidate. As in "who is the best candidate," not whom is ... again, put the stumbling block words "many feel" in parentheses and it is clearer:

   John is the one who (many feel) is the best candidate. 

One last example:

Who shall I say is calling?

This actually comes from an old Richie Rich    comic book. The butler Cadbury answers the door and correctly makes that statement, but the person at the door "corrects" him and says he should have said "whom." Like the other examples, look at the words logically and leap over what is essentially a parenthetical phrase (shall I say). What he is saying is "who is calling?" and certainly not "whom is calling?" So look at it like this to get a clearer picture:

     Who (shall I say) is calling?

 

It's time to wrap it up.

 

 

My next post will discuss this and that. And for that matter these and those. Stay tuned ...

 

Don't make these mistakes!

Don't make these mistakes!

Today I'd like to talk about 15 common errors that you should avoid. They are in no particular order:



1) "Following are the qualifications for the job."

This is an incredibly common and always wrong way to start a sentence. It should be The following, as in "the following items."

 

 

Please don't write complaining that this is "persnickety" and that "you see it that way all the time." Your goal in writing and editing should be accuracy above all else. Nothing else matters if what you handle is not accurate. Without rules, writing becomes a jumbled mess.

 

 

This is a good time to remind you to avoid what I have dubbed PARROT'S DISEASE:   Be skeptical and look things up to be sure! Do not trust myths and rumors or repeat things you have seen or heard, no matter how common. This is how such atrocious writing as the examples cited becomes so common. Be uncommon and be sure something you write is correct. Don't just parrot what you read and hear!

2) Anniversary cannot be used correctly for observances shorter than a year. There's no such thing (says the AP stylebook)  

as a "six-month anniversary," for example, despite what some dictionaries may say. To use it that way would be to mock the root of the word, which like annual deals with years (año, with the same Latin root, means "year" in Spanish):

 

Origin of ANNIVERSARY

Middle English anniversarie, from Medieval Latin anniversarium, from Latin, neuter of anniversarius returning annually, from annus year + versus, past participle of vertere to turn — more at annual, worth

 

On a related note: There is no such thing as first annual. Say "inaugural" instead. Something has to be in existence for -- think about it -- at least a YEAR to be an annual event. So when the race comes around on that date the second time, then you can accurately call it the "second annual." But the first time it has not reached annual status.

 

 

3) "He was diagnosed with cancer."

No, he wasn't! No matter how many thousands of times you've seen this construction, it's still wrong every time. This betrays a total ignorance of what it means to diagnose.   Look up the word. Physicians treat a patient and then make a diagnosis, a statement revealing an analysis of a condition based on observation, etc.

Thus, when it's time for a diagnosis, the doctor gives an evaluation of YOUR CONDITION: your illness, your cancer, your malady, your disease -- not YOU. "He was diagnosed" indicates "he" was the thing diagnosed. NO! The CONDITION was diagnosed, not the patient. If you ask the doctor, "OK, doc, what's the diagnosis?" he certainly won't reply, "Billy Jones" or "You." He'll reply by describing A CONDITION, such as a cold, cancer, the flu, etc.

Better would be to say "The doctor diagnosed his condition as cancer" or simply "The doctor told him he had cancer." Similarly, instead of "He was diagnosed with cancer in January" you should word it like this: "He learned he had cancer in January.

I can't help but add this related note: Never under any circumstances use the idiotic cliché "clean bill of health" to describe a person's condition. What, there's a dirty bill of health that others get? Never use it, not in a quote or elsewhere. Just dopey.

 
4) It's spelled minuscule, not miniscule.



5) It's judgment, not judgement. I've seen it spelled with the extra e hundreds of times in comic books, magazines, even job listings. There is no excuse.


 
6) You MUST include the comma in this construction, thus making this huge sign at Citi Field in New York incorrect:

                        
                                        

Why? A sentence can have a totally different meaning without the comma, which in this case is used to separate a subject (Mets) from the command given to it. A prime example: Let's eat Grandma means we should be cannibals and devour our relative. Let's eat, Grandma with the comma is a command for Grandma to join us in having dinner. 

So the sign should say, Let's go, Mets ...


Similarly, it should be "Hi, Michael" and not "Hi Michael," "Run, Jesse" and "I love you, Sheila." Yes, you need that comma.


 
7) It's totally unforgivable to get seasons mixed up or use some ridiculous "official start of" to state when a season supposedly begins. It's not subject to debate. The seasons begin when the calendar says so.    In 2013 in the United States, for example, summer just began June 21. 

What am I talking about? Articles that, incredibly, call Memorial Day "the official start of summer." Ahem: Summer OFFICIALLY begins when the calendar officially designates it, not some artificial moment contrived from a holiday. What these articles mean is the UNOFFICIAL (gee, only the total opposite of "official") start of the summerlike period. Same with Labor Day being called the "official" end of summer. NO WAY!


Likewise, virtually nowhere in the U.S. do students go "back to school in the fall." Yet again, Parrot's Disease     sufferers, seeing it this way doesn't make it right. They go back when IT'S STILL THE SUMMER. So get it right and put (if they go back in August) "go back to school in August" or (if like most they return in September) "go back to school in September" or "later in the summer."


I once saw a story that described "that clear fall day" in reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. NEWS FLASH: Sept. 11 on any calendar in the Northern Hemisphere is a date IN THE SUMMER. It's just complete ignorance to write it as a fall day. GET IT RIGHT!


8) Democrat as a modifier is Democratic, so it's the Democratic-controlled Legislature, not Democrat-controlled Legislature. George W. Bush intentionally would call the party the Democrat Party just to be derisive. Your job should be accuracy and nothing else.

9) Firm and company are NOT NOT NOT synonyms and should not be used interchangeably. A firm is nearly always a business partnership, such as lawyers who form a law firm. It is a legal entity different from a company or corporation. Just because you think a story would look better without repeating the word company so many times is no excuse for substituting an incorrect word like firm in its place.

Again, it's all about being accurate.

Wrong: He told Nabisco executives that he would never work for such a firm.

Right: He told Nabisco executives that he would never work for such a company.

Right: He joined the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe.



10) You never "try and do" something other than the extremely rare case in which you are describing a past action in which you tried and then you succeeded at doing something. What you are intending to say in such constructions is you are attempting TO do something, as in will "try to do" it.

If you have studied a foreign language, this is even clearer to see. After one verb usually comes the infinitive of the next verb, which in English begins with "to," as in to run, to walk, to win, to fight, etc. You try TO walk, try TO win, try TO run, etc. "And" doesn't even make sense there in place of to. Try translating, for example, "try and win" to Spanish. It can only come out as the equivalent of try TO win.






 
Wrong: Johnny is going to try and win the election.
Right: Johnny is going to try to win the election.


11) If you write or edit for a U.S. audience, you have no business allowing words like theatre in your story unless that word is part of a formal title such as AMC Theatres.    Same with savior, colour, defence, metre, labour or scores of other words spelled differently in the United Kingdom. Way, way, wayyyyyyy too many people seem to think theatre is the preferred word to make a writer seem more sophisticated. NO!

 

12) While and although should not be treated as synonyms, especially in using while when we really mean although or even worse using while when we mean and. While should indicate a period of time suggesting a simultaneous event.

 

 

Right: He played the guitar while I banged away on the drums. (both playing at the same time on the stage)

Wrong: David Wright hit two home runs, while Lucas Duda had two doubles (while here suggests Duda hit the doubles at the same time Wright hit the homers -- the word to use is and, not while).

Wrong: While the situation is serious, he still found a way to laugh.

Right: Although the situation is serious, he still found a way to laugh.

 

13) However should not be used like but as a conjunction. You can combine independent phrases using but and only a comma (He was the real winner, but others came very close.). Not so with however. You would need to use a semicolon or a period before the word.

 

 

Wrong: He went to the store, however he did not find what he wanted.

 

Right: He went to the store; however, he did not find what he wanted.

Right: He went to the store. However, he did not find what he wanted.

 

Right: He went to the store, but he did not find what he wanted.

14) Sexist and outdated terms such as policeman, mailman,  serviceman, fireman, etc., should be avoided unless in a direct quote. The correct terms are police officer, firefighter, mail carrier, service member and such.


15) These are NOT words, no matter how often you have seen them: alright, centerfield, flyball, treehouse, alot, groundball. It should be all right, center field, fly ball, tree house, a lot, ground ball. I could add a lot of words to this list, but I hope you get the idea and understand how vital it is to LOOK IT UP to be sure!

 


And everyday practically belongs on that list because it is one word ONLY as a modifier, such as an everyday situation. But you read the paper every day, two words. Unbelievable how often it's written as one word. WRONG!



I had a lot more, but this list is getting too long already so it's time to wrap it up.

 

 

My next post will teach you an easy way to figure out when to use who or whom. Stay tuned ...

 

 

Bee shore two use the write word!

Bee shore two use the write word!

Today's lesson was prompted by a tweet by Ian Stewart, a third baseman in the Chicago Cubs organization who currently plays for the Cubs' AAA team. I realize someone sending a tweet usually isn't concerned about perfect grammar, spelling and all that, but there should be a limit on just how ignorant you're willing to sound. To paraphrase famed British comedian Benny Hill,  "Everyone's got a right to be wrong/dumb ... but you ABUSE the privilege!"

Stewart surely abuses the privilege with this part of his recent tweet, which by the way not only earned him an F from the Writing Police but a whopping 10-game suspension from the team:

He had told a fan "never" in reply to a question about when he would be called up by the Cubs and then added this:

 "I said that be because the cubs are done With me....there going to let me Rott in AAA all season and then non tender me af ..."

There are many mistakes there, but I hope you spot the offending word in question.

It's "there," which in this case he is confusing with "they're" (as in "they are").

And that brings us to today's lesson: homonyms, or words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have a different meaning.

Before I go any further, I want to point out that I'm not offering you anything completely original. Dozens of sites on the Internet provide similar instruction on homonyms. Someone who read my blog criticized me for not reinventing the wheel,   or in other words repeating what many others already have posted. My reply is that millions of teachers and coaches around the world would be out of work if every last lesson they taught had to be completely original, never-taught-before material. How would anyone learn anything? How would you learn a foreign language, for example, if each lesson had to contain unique information?

So I quickly concede that you very likely can find similar blogs or websites with advice on dealing with homonyms. But the writing and ideas are mine alone and not lifted from anyone else, though I did search the Internet for a few lists of common homonyms so I could include them in the list at the bottom. I hope that in the end you appreciate the instruction here simply for what it is: a sincere effort to provide guidance to anyone hoping to become a better writer or editor. I submit that you don't have to "reinvent the wheel" to do that.

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Thanks! 

Now back to our lesson.

Why is this worth mentioning? Because, as Ian Stewart demonstrates, people get words confused all the time. It is my hope that you will take the time to look up the word if you have even the slightest doubt, and then be sure you have the correct meaning in mind when you choose the word you want. Perhaps a glance at some of the most common offenders below will help you in this objective.

There are far too many homonyms to provide examples for each one, but I would like to put a few of the most egregious in the spotlight. For the rest, see the list below and make 

sure you look each word up!   

This is a good time to remind you of what I have dubbed PARROT'S DISEASE:   Be skeptical and look things up to be sure! Do not trust myths and rumors or repeat things you have seen or heard, no matter how common. This is how such atrocious writing as the examples cited becomes so common. Be uncommon and be sure something you write is correct. Don't just parrot what you read and hear!

Here, then, are some of the homonyms botched most often:

1) It's vs. its: A person with a master's degree came up to me and said she couldn't figure out the difference, so I think this is definitely worth going over.

Here is the simple formula I use and that I encourage you to follow: Say the sentence out loud, and if it is does not make sense, then it's is the wrong one to use. Remember, in this case the apostrophe simply stands for the missing letter i, meaning it's is a contraction of two words, it and is. Its, by contrast, is a possessive, as in the possessive form of the pronoun it.

Example: The dog wagged its/it's tail.

Read it aloud, trying it is in the appropriate spot. "The dog wagged it is tail."

 

Judges?

  GONG!

It's the wrong one! In this case, we want the possessive its (as in possession, meaning the dog possesses the tail). So it should be "The dog wagged its tail."

Example: Its/It's a lovely day outside. 

Read it aloud, trying it is in the appropriate spot. "It is a lovely day outside."

Judges?

It's the correct one! 

2) Your vs. You're: It's amazing how often I see these two words misused, even in stories written by professional journalists! And certainly in the comments section on stories posted online, you'll see the wrong one all the time.

The solution is the same simple formula: Read the sentence aloud, and if you are (which is what the contraction you're stands for) doesn't make sense, you're is the wrong one to use. 

Example:  Go get your/you're coat.

Read it aloud, trying you are in the appropriate spot. "Go get you are coat."

 

Judges?

  GONG!

It's the wrong one! In this case, we want the possessive your (as in possession, meaning you possess the coat, so go get it). So it should be "Go get your coat."

Example: Your/You're not a nice person.

Read it aloud, trying you are in the appropriate spot. "You are not a nice person."

Judges?

 

It's the correct one! 

3) Principle vs. principal: A great wordplay goes like this: "It's not the school I hate ... it's the principal of the thing!"

In general, remember it like this: A principle is part of a core set of beliefs or values. Principal indicates several things, among them the leader of a school, the most important or consequential component and (in financial matters)
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund.

Examples: Mr. Weatherbee is Archie's principal at Riverdale High. The principal reason for the decision was an attempt to save the park from overdevelopment. He decided it was against his religious principles to work on Sunday. 

4) Insure vs. ensure: A lot of people are not even aware there IS a word spelled ensure and figure insure is the right word in all cases. Even the best journalists get this wrong with alarming frequency.

The best tip I can offer is think in stands for insurance in insure and the e stands for extra (as in being extra sure) in ensure. When you want to guarantee something takes place, you do everything to ensure it happens. When you take out a policy for your car, you have decided to insure the auto.

5) Affect vs. effect: It doesn't always work, but in 90% of the cases, this formula will prove a correct guide -- if you intend to use a verb, affect is what you want; if it's a noun you want, effect is the right one. In both cases, you basically are talking about the consequences or results of some action and how it will impact something/someone.

There are some occasions in which writers use effect as a verb, but I'd avoid it to minimize the confusion. 

 

6) lead vs. led: The main problem is not so much confusing the meanings but using the past tense of lead incorrectly. It's an unbelievably common error that I spot all the time when editing. Not helping, of course, is the fact that lead can take on multiple meanings depending on how you pronounce it.

Lead can mean the common metal or a person who guides or presides (or the verb indicating such action). The thing to remember is that the past tense of the verb lead is NOT lead but led ... one more time, led!

Wrong: George Washington lead the nation to victory.
Right: George Washington led the nation to victory.

As much as I'd love to go over each one listed below, time and space dictate     otherwise. Here are some of the more common homonyms and their meanings to help you figure out which is the correct one to use:

accept -- to give approval, to endorse

except -- with the exclusion of, other than

affect -- to have an impact on (verb)

effect -- the actual results, meaning, intent

aide -- a person serving as a helper or assistant
aid -- relief or help given

alter -- to change
altar -- raised structure for ceremonies

ball -- round object used in games; festive party

bawl -- to cry

band -- group that plays music
banned ... prohibited

(I once edited a story that said "a group banned together!")

base -- headquarters, center of operations

bass -- a fish, a low-pitched voice or a type of guitar

bear -- big animal in the forest, or to produce or support
bare -- lacking clothing or covering; exposed
Complicating it further are the past tenses of these irregular verbs. He bears the burden, he bore the burden, he will have borne a heavy burden (not to be confused with born).

berth  -- a distance, or a position or place on something,     such as a berth on a team
birth -- moment something or someone is born

boar -- wild member of pig species

bore -- to make you uninterested by being dull; to drill a hole

breach -- to break or violate
breech -- the lower or rear of something (human body, gun, machinery)

bread -- food used for sandwiches

bred -- raised and grown

(A great wordplay used by Moe of The  Three Stooges: "She was bred in ole Kentucky but she's just a crumb up here!")

break -- to separate into parts, to fracture or ruin
brake -- part that enables your vehicle to stop

bus -- big vehicle that takes kids to school or you to work

buss -- a kiss
Note: The plural of bus is buses, NOT busses

capital -- city that serves as seat of government
capitol -- the actual building where politicians often meet

cache -- hidden stash

cash -- money

cereal -- food you eat for breakfast

serial -- appearing or occurring in succession, or in a series

chili -- hot pepper or spicy meal with meat and beans

Chile -- South American nation ONLY (not a pepper)

chilly -- cold

cite -- to mention or list

site -- location of a place or structure

sight -- vision

compliment -- to praise

complement -- goes together with something well

cord -- rope or string that binds; wire that plugs into wall

chord -- musical note

council -- group of politicians

counsel -- advice

cue - indication of when to act or speak

queue - a line

click -- a sound
clique -- snobby, exclusionary group

desert -- dry region with lots of sand

dessert -- snack you have after a meal

Note: You get your just deserts, not desserts, because we're talking about you getting your just deservings (1 s). It has nothing to do with getting a lousy dessert!

disc

disk

It depends on the source, but the Associated Press says use disk for computer-related references (floppy disk, diskette) and medical references, such as a slipped disk, and disc spelling for phonograph records and related terms (disc jockey), optical and laser-based devices (a Blu-ray disc, CD, DVD) and for disc brake.  

disburse -- to distribute, as in funds

disperse -- to spread, break up or evaporate/vanish

discrete - distinct

discreet - tactful

 

dual -- serving two purposes

duel -- a battle between two parties, such as a gunfight

eminent (distinguished)

imminent (happening soon)

faint - lose consciousness

feint - weak or minimal

faze - impact
phase - stage 

forgo - to abstain or do without

forego - to go before or precede

(writers usually want forgo but misspell it forego)

foreword -- introductory portion of a book
forward -- to move ahead
 

gorilla - big ape 

guerrilla - warrior/soldier ... and often misspelled with 1 r, the writer getting the words confused


hair – head covering
hare – rabbit-like animal  ... hare-brained comes from having the brains of a hare, not anything to do with hair on your head


hansom -- type of carriage

handsome -- good-looking

holey – full of holes

holy - divine
wholly - entirely


insure -- to take out policy of coverage

ensure -- to make certain, guarantee

its -- belonging to it 

it's -- it is

lead --
led -- 
see example above

loan - lend
lone - solitary 

lose - to misplace something or to fail to win

loose  -- not tight

(A rather ignorant fan trying to insult a rival team's player once held up a sign, as the player walked off the field, that said, "Looser" -- the REAL loser meant "loser")

marshal -- high official or leader in ceremonial activity

marshall -- a proper name, such as a surname, island, etc.

(Writers almost always mean marshal when they write marshall. A very common error is "a parade marshall.") 

meet -- to get together

meat -- food from animal parts

mete -- to give out or carry out by measure


pain - hurt
pane – window glass 

past - happened in earlier times

passed ... went ahead of, or got an acceptable grade

peak – highest point
peek - glance

pique - to heighten someone's curiosity or interest
 

plain - ordinary
plane – flight machine or flat surface 


pole - post
poll - survey 


poor – not rich
pour – make flow
pore -- to examine thoroughly


pray – speak to God
prey - quarry 

principal – most important, or leader of school
principle - belief



raise -- lift higher, or increase in salary
rays -- beams, such as sunlight 

raze -- to tear down


rein -- to harness or control
reign -- the period of rule by a leader
rain -- wet stuff from clouds


sent -- delivered somewhere
scent -- smell


sew – connect with thread
so – as a result
sow -- plant 


sheer -- thin or transparent
shear -- to cut, as in with scissors


sole -- single, the only
soul -- essence, inner spiritual self 


stationary -- not moving, idle
stationery -- paper you write on

than -- function word used for comparison or contrast

then -- at a particular point in time

their -- belongs to those people
there -- location or indication
they're -- they are


to -- function word indicating direction/position/location
too -- also
two -- a number, more than 1 and less than 3



vain -- egotistical, concerned with what others think
vein -- tubular vessels that carry blood
vane -- movable device attached to an elevated object


your -- belonging to you

you're -- you are



There are many other examples worth pointing out, but it's time to wrap it up.
 

My next post will be about a few pet peeves I feel are worth discussing. Stay tuned ...