Language Facts and Figures: Begging Some Questions in the Forum

It's time to pay another visit to the Grammar & Composition Forum--where readers post straightforward questions, and I provide the often baffling replies. Today we look at a pair of commonly confused verbs, a tricky case of subject-verb agreement, a much abused logical fallacy, and a trendy intensifier.

• Play It As It Lays and Lies
  
  Question:
  I frequently correct my daughter's use of the verbs lie and lay, which I myself didn't figure out until I had to teach German grammar. I came across a book by Joan Didion entitled Play It As It Lays, and I don't understand how this can be correct usage. Can anyone help?
  
  Answer:
  You're right to be perplexed. According to conventional uses of lay and lie, the expression should be "play it as it lies."
  
  But don't blame Joan Didion for the faulty usage. The title is a golfing expression that refers to striking a ball from wherever it has landed, regardless of how difficult the position may be. Used metaphorically, it means to accept things as they are. That doesn't make lays correct in this case, but it does explain where Didion found her title. (For guidelines on how to use these commonly confused verbs, see Lay & Lie.)



• Let's Reach an Agreement
  
  Question:
  If you are using a singular subject followed by the phrase "together with . . . another noun," is the verb singular or plural? For example, "The coach, together with his players, eats/eat some pizza."
  
  Answer:
  Good question. Though logically "together with" creates a plural subject, grammatically the subject ("coach") remains singular. Expressions such as with, along with, and together with don't change the number of the subject. So write, "The coach, together with his players, eats some pizza."
  
  This is an example of Case #1 in the article Tricky Cases of Subject-Verb Agreement.



• Who's Begging the Question Now?
  
  Question:
  "This can all be confusing, and begs the question: how does one reach the goal of being happy?"
  
  Isn't the phrase "to beg the question" used incorrectly here? At school I was taught it meant something quite different.
  
  An example we were given that still sticks in my mind was this: A believer in God is trying to convince an atheist there really is a God by quoting from the Bible. The believer is here begging the question because the Bible is of course a source an atheist would dismiss out of hand as proof of God's existence.
  
  This is not the first time I've come across this meaning as given in the extract. Granted the author is American, and quite close to this site. But I've also come across it used in this sense from none other than the BBC.
  
  Has this phrase taken on an ADDITIONAL meaning to the one I was given at school or has it replaced it?
  
  Answer:
  We must have attended the same school; unfortunately, it seems to have gone out of business.
  
  The persistent misuse of "beg the question" to mean simply "raise" or "invite" a question threatens to obscure the traditional meaning of this logical fallacy (basing a conclusion on an unproven assumption). To avoid confusion, I've begun using the phrase "circular argument" in its place.
  
  Apparently the newer (or, as you say, additional) meaning of "begging the question" is in the process of replacing the older one. In other words, we're witnessing a case of semantic change. Those of us who are accustomed to the older meaning may try to resist the change, but this one appears to be a lost cause.



• So Annoying
  
  Question:
  I've noticed over the past few years the increased use of the word "so" as sort of an adverb (I guess) by young people. I think the usage really took off even more because of the cast of Friends, who constantly used it as in the examples below.
  1. "You are so fired."
  2. "I am so not going to that party."
  3. "Stop that, that is so not right!"
  4. "That is so my kind of movie."
  That usage of "so" always sounded wrong to me, oddly pretentious even, but mostly just kind of annoyed me at its overuse.
  
  I was wondering if those types of examples were correct grammar for the use of the word.
  
  Answer:
  Good observation. The use of "so" as an intensifier isn't incorrect, but I agree with you: it's overworked and (to my old ears) annoying. (Feel free to add it to the list of Words and Expressions That Tick You Off.) And you're so right: this verbal tic was popularized (though not invented) by the cast of Friends.
  
  Although the sitcom went off the air in 2004, episodes of Friends are still often used in teaching conversational English to second-language students. So don't be surprised if you hear "so not right" in a variety of accents.

To read past editions of Language Facts & Figures, please visit the Grammar & Composition Forum. And while you're there, let us know if you have any questions about English grammar or usage.