Yahoo Sports and foxsports.com both show this error in an AP story, which is titled "South Carolina's Mitchell suspended for first game" and "Mitchell suspended for season opener," respectively:
"The suspension also were announced on Spurrier's Web site for Gamecock fans, www.spurrierhbc.com." (emphasis ours)
A simple case of subject-verb disagreement in the passive voice. Subject-verb disagreement is a very common and completely understandable error for writers/speakers whose first language is not English*. It is far less understandable for native speakers, who generally have an intuitive grasp of the strange subtleties of our language culled from years of speaking/listening/reading. Regardless of their tongues of origin, we expect a higher standard from professional writers/copy editors working in the English language.
This error falls under the category of "Oops! Is my lazy showing?" and earns the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
*** (three stars) - I needed a shot just to look myself in the mirror this morning.
*It should be noted, we give a resounding bravo! to those who learn English as a second language. We have the utmost respect and admiration for you. It is not for the faint of heart!
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