Back in the March 1996 issue of The Little Egypt Gazette, I ran an article called "Rules of the Game," a plea for tighter adherence to simple rules of grammar and punctuation in magical literature. Over the past few months, I've had the experience of reading a considerable amount of new card material, including diabolical plots and elegant handlings by several significant new names. I won't go so far as to say I've had the pleasure of reading this material, because my enjoyment has been tempered by the authors' casual attitudes toward grammar, especially in the use of pronouns. Perhaps they were outside honing their faro shuffles the day pronouns came up in third-period English. When I encounter a sentence such as Place the fan in front of the spectator and ask them if they see their card. or a description such as Hand the single match and box to the spectator. After they have lit the match, ask them to wave the match over the deck. then I perceive that the author is covering his ignorance of the sex of his spectator with ambiguity as to the quantity of the spectator. This wild abandon with the language is cropping up so frequently of late that it is time to add one more rule to our series: Rule 3. A pronoun should agree with its antecedent in number.

The following examples illustrate correct usage. The spectator adopted a bemused expression as Mr. Vernon caused all the cards in the deck to right themselves except her card.

Astonished, the spectator released an expletive as his card revealed itself via Nelson's Enchanted Talking Flower Vase.

From San Francisco, Genii's new theater critic penned its review of Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants. In the above examples, the her leaves no doubt that Dai Vernon is performing "Triumph" for a female volunteer, just as the his indicates that it's a gentleman who is holding the psychic pottery. When the subject's gender is in utter doubt, it is superior to the numerically ambiguous they, but it's probably wiser to simply work around the issue, as in From San Francisco, Genii's new theater critic penned a devastating review of Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants. This example brings up the important Corollary to Rule 3: Don't perform for the androgynous. When Johnny revealed the live baby chicks under the cups, he completely stunned the, ah, spectator.

Returning to the violations of Rule 3, above, such sentences are grammatically valid only for the case of Siamese twins: The spectator merely sighed when Max read their mind, but drew a deep breath when Darwin found their card in his wallet. [Grammar aside, the drawing clearly suggests that her is still the more appropriate pronoun.] Perhaps a more useful suggestion here is to ask someone to read your lecture notes or your hardback magnum opus, someone who is familiar with English grammar and punctuation. If possible, do not use a magician, as a magician might be apt to either miss or forgive your slips in rhetoric when he is blinded by your genius at card magic. Next up, "Rules of the Game III: Back to Apostrophe School." If you are new to The Little Egypt Gazette, you are welcome to a retrospective look at the original Rules of the Game.

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