Punctuation Error and Noun/Verb Disagreement

Generally, it is agreed that no one version is “correct”, however, there are certainly preferences in use.

Probably the major differences between British and American English lies in the choice of vocabulary. Some words mean different things in the two varieties.

Two days ago when I was reading a newspaper, my attention was caught by the above two sentences appearing in an article in its column promoting the correct use of English.

Looking at the first sentence with a comma (the one before "however") highlighted by me in bold, one will realize that according to the rules of punctuation, a semicolon is to be used in place of such comma.

There is a noun/verb disagreement (both the noun and verb therein being highlighted in bold) in the second sentence.

Isn't it ironic that sentences containing grammatical errors are allowed in a column promoting the correct use of English?

In the same column of the same newspaper of today, appears the sentence
(The association of death and disposal probably came from the tradition of disposing of rubbish and burials at sea in deep water some six fathoms deep) which is of doubtful grammatical standing as common usage requires the expression with ‘association’ to be either “the association between death and disposal” or “the association of death with disposal”.


Kengt, Penang, December 11, 2009