Newpaper Editors and Sub-Editors need to improve also

Mr. WONG CHUN WAI, a columnist of The Star (one of Malaysia's leading English dailies) has in his column On The Beat in an Article named Work on our English dated January 21, 2007 stated, "We need to raise the standard of the English Language among our young people and even teachers if we want to compete effectively in the global market" in its first or beginning paragraph. However, the editors and sub-editors of this leading English daily also need to make a concerted effort to avoid irregularities in grammar in their publications lest readers especially students should follow similar usages. Apart from those mentioned in my earlier postings of February 05 under the subject "who" or "whom" (relative pronouns) and February 26 under the subject "faulty sentence", listed below are those others which are more glaring ones and are occurring quite frequently:


Date appearing in Print/Online version
The sentence
Remarks

January 21, 2007
The Sixth National SME Development Council meeting on Friday raised some key issues, among them the eligibility of loans and other assistance from commercial banks, financial institutions and public sector bodies.
Comma splice/run-on sentence. By replacing " , among them" with "including", one can make the sentence much clearer and smoother.

January 24, 2007
Being grammatically wrong is one thing, being factually wrong as well is appalling .
Comma splice/run-on sentence which can be improved if an "and" is added after the comma.

February 6, 2007
Just because men have thicker facial skin, doesn't mean they need to care for it any less.
The sentence has no subject. It can be completed with an addition of "that" after the comma.

February 8, 2007
What has 18,000 porcelain bowls, spoons and teacups?
It should be "What have" as plurals are used.

February 8, 2007
Gravedigger claims trial to rape
Ambiguity. Shouldn't it be "Gravedigger claims trial for rape"?

February 11, 2007
The US cannot dictate who we do business with but we should always bear in mind, as with all negotiations, there will be areas of agreement and disagreement.
Shouldn't "who" be "whom"? Refer to my earlier posting.

February 13, 2007
When a person dies leaving no will, he is said to die interstate.
Wrong spelling/word is used. Shouldn't "interstate" be "intestate"?

February 17, 2007
The director who lodged two reports also alleged that two foreigners who are directors of the parent company in California had conspired, abetted or assisted with the former managing director to unlawfully dispose off 80% of shares of the Malaysian company to the EPF when they were fully aware that the ex-managing director only owned a 33% stake in the company.
Wrong spelling/word is used. Shouldn't "off" be "of"?

February 21, 2007
District deputy traffic chief ASP Razali Bakar said on Wednesday that the two, who were on a superbike, were died after they were ran over by an oncoming vehicle at 9pm on Tuesday.
Shouldn't "were died" be "were killed" or "were dead" and "were ran" be "were run"?

February 22, 2007
Considering some three billion people watched the 2006 World Cup, it's not surprising football terms have migrated to everyday English.
Who is considering? It's a "dangling modifier". Refer to my earlier posting.

February 25, 2007
Chinese New Year celebrations in The Netherlands is not so festive, but equally heartfelt, writes WONG TIAN AN.
Noun/verb disagreement