An error common even among experienced writers

Get help if you are not sure.





But both .........are asking American voters to believe in them,..............

The above is part of a paragraph of an item of news appearing in a popular national English daily.

The said item of news is headlined "Who can Americans believe in?"

The first word in the headline is the interogative pronoun which is referring to the "them" in the first sentence above.

"Them" is in the objective case and so must the interogative pronoun in the headline be.

The headline, therefore, should have been "Whom can Americans believe in?" - such error being very common even among experienced writers.

Additional word/s required for clarity

Car care or car repair? Proper text required if either.....




Contrary to the previous post of "Fewer words are sometimes better", the following sentence requires the addition of one or more words to make it clearer:-

He wins RM8,000 motorcycle using his hand to play ping pong.

It is a sub headline for an item of news in a newspaper.

To anyone, the sub headline suggests that the 'he' wins in a normal table tennis competition.

However, the news write-up says that the participants were playing with their bare hands (that is, without any bats).

To create a clearer impression, the sub headline should have been "He wins RM8,000 motorcycle using his bare hand to play ping pong" or "He wins RM8,000 motorcycle using his hand to play ping pong without any bat".

Fewer words are sometimes better

Don't mask your writing with unnecessary words.


It's fresh, it's juicy and full of tasty fresh fruit goodness.

The above sentence is taken from a print advertisement.

Notice that a comma is used to connnect two complete sentences.

A comma splice has occurred or the sentence is regarded as a run-on sentence.

The sentence willl not only be grammatical but also sounds much better if rewritten as follows:-

It's fresh, juicy and full of tasty fresh fruit goodness.

It has always been a good advice: You will have fewer grammatical errors if you leave out a word that can be left out.

Wrong Choice of Word

Choice of colours in painting is like choice of words in writing. Both must show their end results reflecting the meanings intended.




Below is one of the two items of news under a common headline appearing in a popular national English daily:-.

Quote

In another incident, police are looking for a 23-year-old drug-addict who strangled his mother after she refused to give him money.

In the 9.30 am incident yesterday, the man turned violent and begun assaulting his 51-year-old mother during a commotion at their home in Kampung Pulau Serai, Dungun.

Supt Khairi said the suspect’s 57-year-old father lodged a report at the Dungun police station.

He said the victim was sent to the Dungun Hospital where she received outpatient treatment.

Unquote

Do you notice anything wrong between the two groups of words highlighted in bold?

"Strangled" means "killed by squeezing windpipe". In other words, the news says that his mother was killed but later in conclusion, she received outpatient treatment only. What a contradiction has that created?

It all boils down to the wrong choice of one word, and that section should have been "drug-addict who attempted to strangle his mother".

Further, the last word "begun" in the second paragraph of the news should have been "began".

Passive voice preferred sometimes

Writing is like painting, its theme must be clear






Cops shoot
dead robbers

The above is the headline of an item of news appearing in a popular national English daily (the headline being as shown above in bold print in two lines without any punctuation mark).

The headline is constructed in the active voice. If you try to rewrite the sentence in the passive voice, two ways are possible depending on how you understand the sentence.

The first way is:"Dead robbers are shot by cops" and the second:"Robbers are shot dead by cops".

Obviously, the second way is the intended meaning.

This gives us an indication that sometimes a sentence or sentences need be in the pssive voice in order to avoid ambiguity.