Sunday, February 20, 2011

Worst headline of the week

On CNN:
Libyan demonstrators say they’ll soldier on despite violent crackdown
There’s something wrong with that second verb, isn’t there.
at

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2011 at 11:18 PM

    1. to say

    2. will (auxiliary future tense)

    3. to soldier

    I think you mean 3rd verb...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephen StratfordFebruary 21, 2011 at 10:58 PM

    Quite right, I didn't count "you'll" as containing a verb. So yes, 3rd verb.

    Stratford theory of numbers...
    http://quoteunquotenz.blogspot.com/2009/06/stratford-theory-of-numbers.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2011 at 11:06 PM

    Stratford theory of numbers...

    So you're innumerate as well as grammatically illiterate?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chad TaylorFebruary 22, 2011 at 12:33 AM

    Shouldn't it be "functionally illiterate?"

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    "Functionally literate" surely, by the evidence of this blog - just not literate in toto.

    One can be functionally literate, Chad, while being ignorant of the finer points of grammar (like Stephen).

    Sorry, Stephen, but I take grammar seriously, and slips start at the top...

    If the guardians of our literary manuscripts falter, what hope can we have for ordinary Kiwis? Next thing you know we'll be, like, you know, incomprehensible, and stuff.

    ReplyDelete