Mistakes we often see in newspapers

Writing like skating abounds with pitfalls.





The following sentences are taken from messages published in a popular national English daily on the same day:-

1) She is a piano teacher but the only sound one hears in her house are the cries and screams of her five-year-old son, who she has been abusing for the past three years.

2) Notice is further given that any person or firm or company which without permission of the owner produce, manufacture, distribute, sell or offer for sale the said products using original packing and bearing the above depicted trade marks and/or any other similar mark is infringing the rights of the owner and is committing an offence under the Trade Description Act 1972.

3) Movie lovers, make your way to the cinema for a fun carnival this school holidays.

In sentence 1, if we turn the last part which is an adjective clause into a sentence. It will become "She has been abusing him for the past three years". Hence, the relative pronoun 'who' (which is in the subjective case) should have been 'whom' (which is the objective case) to make the sentence grammatically correct.

In sentence 2, 'and' before 'bearing' is not necessary. Besides, plural verbs are used after the relative pronoun 'which' referring to 'company', but singular(instead of plural) ones are inconsistently used thereafter in "is infringing" and "is committing". Consistency requires verbs in a sentence having the same subject to be in the same form (that is either singular or plural depending on the situation).

In sentence 3, the adjective 'this' (singular in nature) is used to pinpoint a plural noun 'holidays' and consequently, 'these' should have been used instead of 'this'.

Practice is the best of all instructors.
-- Publilius Syrus