•December 15, 2021•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

Contractions can be wonderful space- and timesavers.
They also can gum up the works.
You might tell the 14-year-old babysitter: “There’s a 12-pack of Coors Light in the fridge. Oh, and there’s 30 chicken and cheese taquitos in the freezer if you’re feeling peckish.”
Are you out of your mind?
There ARE 30 taquitos in the freezer.
The only thing that would save that sentence is if you were to say, “There’s a box of 30 taquitos from Costco in the freezer.” The “box” becomes the object in that case.
This is something that bugs Rich Parkinson, too.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.