Pronoun and Symmetry Problems contine to plague Experienced Writers

Don't let water or anything good go to waste!

(1) Great leaders of Malaysia would be remembered as those who gave every Malaysian, regardless of their race and religion, a chance.

(2) Eight months have gone by and four years is hardly light years away.

The sentences enumerated above are taken from the article Change, don’t end up as history.

The pronoun 'their' in the first sentence can stand for or represent 'great leaders'; but obviously that is not the intended meaning. It has, therefore, to represent 'every Malaysian' which is singular in number. Perhaps, it is used by the writer to avoid the cumbersome 'his or her' to achieve fluency. Such, however, is still a disputed usage. To leave out the pronoun will make the sentence better as 'Great leaders of Malaysia would be remembered as those who gave every Malaysian, regardless of race and religion, a chance.'

In the second sentence, we notice the use of 'eight months' being followed by a plural verb 'have' in the first part with the unsymmetrical use of singular verb 'is' to match 'four years'. The sentence should correctly be 'Eight months have gone by and four years are hardly light years away.'

Nevertheless, the article will definitely be a good read as it contains the writer's good analytical knowledge of its subject matter.

Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge brings wisdom.
-- Welsh Proverb

Editing/Typesetting Error?

If a mistake can slip through watchful eyes, further measures need be taken.






Zeti (Central Bank Governor now appointed in UN financial panel), however, remains pragmatic about over the impact of the US financial crisis, and resulting global economic downturn, on Malaysia but is confident the country will be able to ride out the storm.

The above sentence is taken from the Cover Feature Malaysia is good for now, the first part of the assessment of a series (under different headlines) of issues surrounding the domestic and international economy disclosed by the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) in an interview.

Such first part has, among other measures, mentioned that the central bank has taken the step to guarantee all deposits in Malaysia reassuring investors (and consumers as well) that the banking system is strong enough to withstand the financial turmoil. This has confirmed what has been stated in my earlier post Not a correct clause - or a matter of perception or prejudice?

As for the sentence in the first paragraph, it has been found to contain an additional preposition 'over' which can conveniently be discarded without changing its meaning as Zeti, however, remains pragmatic about the impact of the US financial crisis, and resulting global economic downturn, on Malaysia but is confident the country will be able to ride out the storm.

No endeavor is worse than that which is not attempted.
-- Mexican Proverb

Not a correct clause - or a matter of perception or prejudice?

Malaysian Government is formed by a coalition of political parties voted into power.

Malaysia is one of those countries that guarantee all bank deposits in their respective banking systems to contain the effect of the global financial crisis.

Besides, oil prices have been reduced four times by the Malaysian Government who has been fighting for price reduction of goods especially essential goods by fixing lower ceilings and calling traders to effect reduction of the prices of their goods.

Unless there is a need to find out which leaders, politicians or political parties have done the above jobs, I would rephrase the following sentence in the article Please grow up, will you?

"Ahead of the bad times, Malaysians are looking to our politicians for leadership and assurances – which seem to be lacking."

at the worst (not that I back any leader, politician or political party but to present a fairer assessment) to be

"Ahead of the bad times, Malaysians are looking to our politicians for leadership and assurances – which do not seem to be adequately provided."

Nonetheless, there are further goodies announced by the government for the people after publication of the said article, which may have been one of the vital catalysts for such early follow-up announcement.

Even professional writers also succumb to such danger

Keys are to secure propriety - what then is to prevent errors in professional writings? Vigilance, of course!






The weekly pullout of a popular national English daily has the following sentences in two separate articles written by professionals on the same day:-

1) Our companies are well positioned to not only weather the storm but to seize the many opportunities that present itself during these times.

2) The focus is on ties this week and we love how it dresses your work wear up in just a few twists and turns.

Are you able to detect anything wrong with the two sentences enumerated above? Just in case you are unable to do so, you may wish to take a second look at my earlier articles Inconsistency/Concord Failure/Noun-Pronoun Disagreement and Lurking danger of pronouns to assist you.

By now, I am sure you can realize that in sentence 1, '...opportunities that present themselves (and not itself)... and that in sentence 2, '...we love how they (and not it as the ties are referred to) dress your work wear up...'

Be careful of reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-- Mark Twain