When Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson sat down with Tom Brokaw this morning on Meet the Press, he proved that his many financial woes are matched by linguistic ones.

“Borrowers have done things that were irresponsible also,” Paulson said. “But there’s a lot of, a lot of mistakes made.”

This is a case of contractions tripping up grammar. Contractions are two words merged or contracted into one. The apostrophe signals the missing letter or letters. Will not becomes won’t. Has not becomes hasn’t. And so on. When we use a contraction, we must be mindful of the verb it contains, and whether or not it fits the rest of the sentence.

Paulson erred when said, “There’s a lot of, a lot of mistakes made.” There’s stands for there is. But with multiple mistakes, plural, he should’ve said, “There were a lot of mistakes made.” (A telling use of passive voice. Notice how the incriminating noun “mistakes” so often induces passive voice?)

Paulson made a number of redundant statements this morning. He called the historic bailout a “very necessary” measure. By definition, necessary means “absolutely needed.” There is no need - or room - to intensify the word with an adverb like “very.” It’s already at the max, absolutely needed. The same goes for Steve Kroft’s phrase “totally engaged,” Cindy McCain’s RNC utterance “natural instinct,” and John McCain’s gem “advance warning.”

The Treasury Secretary also referred to a “patchwork regulatory system that’s outdated, outmoded.” But here’s the thing: Outdated means outmoded.

Then there were a few poor word choices, the most atrocious being this remark: “What has gone on here is terrible, it’s unexcusable, and we need to deal with it.”

It’s inexcusable that Paulson needs such a dramatic linguistic bailout.

QUICK HITS

* To begin Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw said, “Our issues this Sunday: the American financial system in deep crisis.” Crisis is already a dramatic word, conveying a critical phase or crucial time. It does not need to be intensified. To describe a “deep crisis” is redundant.

* Meanwhile, Steve Kroft explained 60 Minutes’ devotion to political coverage. “The country is totally engaged [in politics] right now,” he said. Engaged, by definition, means “greatly interested.” Either you are or you aren’t.

* Michelle Obama began a memo to supporters with the statement: “It’s hard to believe there are less than 50 days before Election Day.” It’s also hard to believe none of the campaign’s editors caught this linguistic error. If you can count items individually — which is certainly the case in a countdown to Nov. 4 — use fewer. If you can’t count the items, use less.

* In a statement on their MySpace page, the Jonas brothers implied they plan to practice polyandry. “We really like to believe that the girl we will spend our lives with will be our biggest ‘fan,’” they wrote. The plural subject “we” – in this case, a trio of boys – requires plural wives. Unless…that’s just the way they roll.

* Bill O’Reilly told Time magazine, “I don’t endorse candidates, and I don’t tell people who to vote for…” He should’ve said, “I don’t tell people whom to vote for.” Use who when describing a subject, the actor of a sentence. It serves as a pronoun for I, you, he, she, we and they. Use whom when describing an object, the person acted upon (or voted for). It substitutes me, you, him, her, us and them.