We exist because the world of professional writing/editing, particularly the online world, is either shamefully understaffed or worse, underqualified. We do not exist to snark on the grammar of amateur individuals. However, if you get paid to write or revise writing for a living, you're fair game. Let the hunting begin!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

The AP strikes again!

Well, all we can say is at least it's not a sports story.

We found this gem in a story titled, "Dutch royals caught revising Wikipedia":

"The couple feel that due to repeated mistakes in the media, an 'incorrect version of events has arisen,' he said." (emphasis ours)

This is a nice example of a tricky subject-verb disagreement problem. Many people feel that because a couple involves two people, the verb ought to reflect multiple subjects. However, the subject of the sentence is one couple; thus, the verb should be conjugated "feels." If it helps, substitute a similar group noun like team in the sentence. You would not (it is to be hoped) write, "The team feel that the uniforms are ugly and the coach is incompetent." And if you would have before, we hope you will not in the future.

Having said that, we're going to cut this AP writer/editor some slack and not award them the Oops! Is My Lazy Showing? designation. What can we say? We're feeling charitable tonight. They have, however, earned the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
*** (three stars) - I needed a shot just to look myself in the mirror this morning.

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