Mind your Ps and Qs.

AuthorHowe, Mike
PositionLetters - Letter to the editor

Peter Weeks' comments regarding the meaning of the phrase "one of the only" were apt (Letters, March). Other common errors are the use of "the latter" when referring to the last item in a list and "alternative" when there are three options.

But the career development article in the same issue contained the sentence: "If you inherit a PA, you need to spend time ... with them." This is resurrecting Olde Worlde English, in which the plural can refer to the singular in order to avoid gender complications. It's...

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