The president-elect’s new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, may have faced the nation yesterday, but he didn’t have much information to share with the nation. And yet, despite all the question dodging, Emanuel still managed to make a grammatical mistake — in his very first response.

“But you should know, one cautionary note, in past times there hasn’t been announcements till December.”

With multiple announcements per president and multiple presidents, this calls for a plural verb, haven’t been.

The chief of staff made a similar mistake last week in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. Emanuel said, “When the campaign is over, the work of solving the problems of the country begin.”

When you’re using a prepositional phrase, such as “the work of solving the problems of the country,” the word that precedes the preposition dictates the verb. The remainder of the phrase can be ignored. In this case, of is the preposition, so work determines the verb — not problems, which appears to have influenced Emanuel’s verb choice.

We know Emanuel is busy, but we hope he takes time to brush up on grammar before Jan. 20.

The president-elect made a grammatical error in the opening statement of his first press conference. “This morning we woke up to more sobering news about the state of our economy,” he said. “The 240,000 jobs lost in October marks the 10^th consecutive month that our economy has shed jobs.”

The problem? A plural subject — in this case, jobs — requires a plural verb — mark, not marks.

It should be no surprise that Obama also got into grammatical trouble when he talked about his budding relationship with President Bush.

“I’m sure that in addition to taking a tour of the White House, there is going to be a substantive conversation between myself and the president,” Obama said.

First off, whenever you’re talking about multiple people, the speaker should be listed last. It’s one of those examples where etiquette and grammar intersect.

Second, how to describe the speaker. I doesn’t work because we’re using these two people as objects. The conversation will be between them. (So Jessica Simpson’s song “Between You and I” is grammatically incorrect.)

By myself is a reflexive pronoun. It only works when you are the object of an action AND the subject of the same sentence. I see myself in the mirror. I treated myself to a manicure.

Obama’s use of myself suggests he may be experiencing an out-of-body sensation as president-elect — or that a bit of ego may be surfacing. Either way, we advise him to keep some distance from W. in the coming weeks.

Here’s something John McCain and George Bush have in common: Both have trouble distinguishing people from things.

On Tuesday night McCain thanked his aides and volunteers, “who fought so hard and valiantly, month after month, in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times.”

The next morning, President Bush said, “I congratulated [McCain] on a determined campaign that he and Gov. Palin ran.”

Here’s the problem with these twins (as Hilary Clinton once put it): Their descriptions of the presidential campaign actually apply to people. The campaign challenged the candidates, but it was not a challenged campaign; it was a challenging campaign. Likewise, McCain’s campaign was not determined; its leaders were.

But then again, neither Bush nor McCain has been known for careful word choice.

Sen. John McCain gave a gracious but error-filled concession speech Tuesday night.

“This is an historic election…” he said. The problem? Historic begins with a consonant — and it’s not silent — which means it should be paired with the article a, not an. John McCain is a hero and his wife is an heiress (because that h is silent).

The 72-year-old also had some problems with plural-singular agreement. “Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.”

When you’re talking about “any American,” singular, you should describe his or her citizenship, not their, a plural pronoun.

But we forgive the old man: He must be exhausted by the long campaign. Now he can focus on his grill and not worry about whether his subjects and pronouns agree.

After performing a solid paso doble last night, Carrie Ann Inaba instructed timid Susan Lucci to announce to the audience, “I’m doing good!”

Eek!

When you’re describing an action, such as a dance performance, you must use an adverb. “I’m doing well!” Susan should’ve declared. (And wouldn’t it have been something if the soft spoken actress had corrected the outspoken judge right then and there, in front of millions of viewers?)

Adjectives only work with linking verbs, when you’re describing an emotion or a sense. After the paso doble, Tony smelled bad. (Not badly.) Susan looked good. (Not well.) I feel bad for Susan. (Not badly — to feel badly is to have a poor sense of touch, such as numb finger tips.)

Got it, Carrie Ann? You’re sounding more like Paula Abdul every day.