They don’t call me the Grammar Grouch and Punctuation Princess for nothing. Have a look at this week’s gaffes!

1. In Quebec, nearly every day Legault or one of his ministers announce decisions by claiming they have the approval of “public health”…
2. Of course, it’s fair to reason Barron’s free reign over his playroom had something to do with his artistic flair.
3. At the beginning of the film, directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Wood’s older daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, describes hearing, at age eleven, of her mother’s shocking and mysterious death, in 1981.

And the corrections:

1. The verb “announce” is wrong; it should be announces. Why? Because the subject of the sentence is singular: “Legault OR one of his ministers.” One OR the other. The subject is singular, so it needs a verb to agree with it: announces is the verb form that matches the third-person singular.
2. As the Grammar Cop has mentioned before, the correct expression is free rein, not “free reign.” It refers to the reins of a horse: if they’re loose, the horse can meander all over the place at will. (“Reign” refers to the time a king or queen rules, e.g., Queen Elizabeth’s reign.)
3. If we, read this sentence, out loud, we instantly see, all the errors, i.e., all the COMMAS. (Which is fine if we’re William Shatner.) The only commas necessary are those which set off the phrase, “directed by Laurent Bouzereau.” Try reading this now – see how it flows so easily! At the beginning of the film, directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Wood’s older daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner describes hearing at age eleven of her mother’s shocking and mysterious death in 1981. As we say in French, ça suffit. That’s enough.

The Grammar Cop hopes you have a good week with free rein to use only necessary commas. Ça suffit! 😀