Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 142

A space has somehow crept into the copy of this advertisement for conservatory upgrading, resulting in two words that exist, but don’t communicate what’s intended:

Link: Rugby Observer, 7 August 2014, p. 8

It’s an uncommon kind of error, and another that a spellchecker will not be able to spot.
it at tracts only 5%

Adjectival Confusion, # 2

The homepage of Blue Mango Creative HQ has been under construction for some months to my knowledge, and refers to the construction work rather oddly:

Link: Blue Mango Creative HQ

I’m sure Roland Barthes, that commentator on the strangeness of washing powders’ ability to clean ‘deeply’, would have had something to say about the deployment of ‘heavy’ in this context.

heavy updating

Double-take, # 93

It’s difficult to decide which category is the natural home of this mangle. Pop Spencer, who found it, remarks: ‘Jane Eyre and Moll Flanders available on the street.’

Link: Northampton Chronicle & Echo, ‘Two drug dealers from Northampton jailed for four years after being caught in undercover operation’

A second double take is afforded by the report’s detailed and rambling title, reproduced in the link above, which suggests that the writer has not yet grasped how headlines are supposed to work nor been taught the concept of pithiness.
cocaine and heroine

Not Washed or Cooked, # 164

A bit of a mess from the Indie’s archives:

Link: The Independent, ‘Forget the gadgets, housework today is as tough as it was 60 years ago’

Unied States + duplicate opening paragraph

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 54

The front page of last Friday’s Guardian ‘Sport’ section contained a lovely mangle. Pop Spencer, who spotted it, comments: ‘Seems like Mancini hasn’t had a doubt for years.’

Link: The Guardian, ‘Balotelli must accept Liverpool behaviour clauses to make move’

The error was quickly corrected in the web version, but News Sniffer shows it was wrong at first posting (Version 0, 2014-08-21 21:50:40 UTC). Rather oddly, the paragraph also features, word-for-originally-wrong-word, in the Irish Times.

confident for confidant

You Cannot Be Serious, # 25

This — another from Teach First — is an example of the kind of grammatical idiocy that ensues when logical relative clause formation is abandoned:

Link: Teach First, ‘Why we exist’

The writer clearly recognizes that using a zero relative clause has compromised coherence, but attempts to restore syntactical logic, and thus unambiguous meaning, by inserting a comma in the gap left by the omitted relative pronoun (that). In addition to being grammatically dubious (at best), the statement’s impact has been weakened since the comma interrupts the movement from the first clause to the second, thus disconnecting them, where the relative pronoun would underline the relationship between the clauses.

Zero relative clauses are occurring ever more frequently in various kinds of writing, and can even be found in formal scholarly compositions at various levels. However, it is apparent that clarity of expression and effective communication of sense are not their primary motivation; on the contrary, both are often undermined. It would seem that zero relative clauses have escaped from the world of journalism, where every word counts because it is counted. They have no place in education at any level.

Incidentally, it has taken me some days to work out that Teach First is called ‘Teach First’ —

— and not, as its prominent logo suggests, ‘TeachFirst’:

zero relative clause: so poor, providing; Teach First or TeachFirst

Double-take, # 92

This is well-meant, if oddly couched:

Link: Teach First

Since ‘a day’ relates to time, not place, to use where in this context is completely illogical.

The word child is grammatically both singular and neuter (cf. baby), biologically sexually unspecific and culturally non-gender-specific; it would thus be more correct and more logical to use the pronoun its to represent the noun. If it were being applied to a particular child in a particular context, it could be sexed accordingly. If the noun were made plural, their would make greater sense and be more grammatically sound; it might also increase the the statement’s emphasis. As it is, it reads rather as if their was agreeing in number with parents rather than child.

a day where; no child … their

Not Washed or Cooked, # 163

This mangle featured in June in an academic book. This time it comes from a university’s ITS Service Desk webpage:

Link: University of Warwick, IT Service Desk

activite

Double-take, # 91

Today, a detached relative pronoun from the BBC:*

Link: BBC News, ‘Renfrew tyre fire […]’

The contributor, Des Pond of Slough, commented: ‘Glasgow — it’s miles bigger.’**

* This report has been changed significantly, but a Google search offers echoes of the original.

** A reference to the campaign to promote the city in the 1980s , with the slogan:

Link: Wikipedia, ‘Glasgow’s miles better’

black smoke […] drifting across the city which could be seen for miles

Double-take, # 90

I’m not sure where he found this, but Des Pond of Slough feels that ink has been wasted here:

We’ve seen before that promoting food attracts tautologists.
delicious tasty

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 141

A certain lack of harmony between noun and verb:

Source: Rugby Observer, 26 June 2014, p. 9. Link: online version

record show

Apostrophe catastrophe, # 52

From a reference request form issued by Teach First:

Perhaps the writer was confused by the politically-correct pronouns and decided not to attempt the possessive apostrophe (singular or plural?) at all. Oddly, the only logical reason for the convoluted phrasing at the beginning of the second sentence is to avoid the need for a pronoun, or why not simply say ‘If the candidate has not already obtained [his/her/their/a/the] degree’?

The repeated verb obtain, rather than achieve, rather suggests that the candidate will be shopping at one of those suspect websites that offer a study-free degree in exchange for money…

candidates degree

Double-take, # 89

This is a section of an advertisement that runs regularly in the Rugby Observer:

Link: Rugby Observer, 7 August 2014, p. 2

As an aside, I’ve noticed only recently that the publication has dropped the direct article from its masthead, although I’m almost positive that it used to be shown. The website’s address includes it, and the copyright details also show ‘The Rugby Observer’. The potential broad application of the noun seems to require greater specificity, and it’s certainly customary.

up to a huge £75 minimum

Right word, wrong form, # 3

Someone at The Huffington Post needs to revise irregular verbs:

Link: The Huffington Post UK, ‘Iain Duncan Smith Knows He Is A “Hate Figure”’

For reference, Reverso is a useful online source for checking the correct conjugation of verbs in several languages, including English.

casted doubt

Double-take, # 88

These might be less startling with hyphens:

Source: Lavatory block at Cotswold Wildlife Park, Burford

unisex baby changing rooms

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 140

From a home-goods catalogue:

Link: Lakeland, ‘Extendable Cob Web [sic] Duster’

Cob web but not Lake land or extend able? It’s also worth observing that the descriptor in the text should be treated as a generic singular (goat’s hair) and, since it’s used adjectivally, hyphenated (goat’s-hair).

cob web; goats’ hair duster

Not Washed or Cooked, # 162

Another from Dr Faustus:

Link: International Business Times, ‘Big Bang Theory: Jim Parsons Quits Show […] Fake News’

involed for involved

Not Washed or Cooked, # 161

Confusion at the ice-cream maker’s, sent in by Tim Matter:

blackcurrent sorbet

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 53

This grammatical mangle was spotted by Dr Faustus in an online discussion of Much Ado About Nothing:

Link: Shmoop, Much Ado About Nothing

According to Spring Branch Independent School, which is apparently ‘excited to offer’ it, Shmoop is ‘a digital curriculum and test prep company that makes fun, rigorous learning and teaching materials. Shmoop content is written by master teachers and Ph.D. students from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and other top universities’. This mangle is not a good advertisement for it.

whose for who's

Not Washed or Cooked, # 160

Dr Faustus comments: ‘Spotted in an Asian buffet restaurant in Camberley. The food wasn’t very good. Not recommended!’

currey

Singular or Plural? # 10

Syntactical idiocy:

Link: Rules of the Jungle blog, ‘The Green Tortoise’

The Green Tortoise […], and it lives at the bottom of the sea for their entire life.

Not Washed or Cooked, # 159

Dr Faustus received this emailed job description from a well-known university:

undergraduat

Singular or Plural? # 9

Someone at The Sunday Times seems to be having difficulty with the concept of grammatical number in relation to money, whether represented in full words or abbreviated:

Link The Sunday Times (subscription access only), ‘Ministers back our call to end savings scandal’

That is a lot of pounds for a singular verb to carry on its own, and the failure to harmonize verb and subject noun recurs in the body of the report:

The report’s opening sentence offers further confirmation that this is an entrenched grammatical error rather than a one-off slip:

It’s an incomprehensible mangle and there is no excuse for it.
£122bn earns; £122bn is; millions of pounds is

Double-take, # 87

Source: Whilton Locks Garden Store

hens (grown on chicks); supermarket sized eggs

Double-take, # 86

The article/noun disagreement below indicates inadequate proofreading (reprehensible in a private language school extolling its quality and professionalism), while the representation of the noun school by the pronoun their mangles both grammar and logic:

Source: CESA Languages Abroad | Learn French in Nice, France

The two adjectives — and this may well reflect a personal preference — seem to be the wrong way round. As it stands, the text makes it sound as if native is a language, but surely the distinction is not between being a native speaker and a French native speaker (since people other than French nationals can have French as their first language), but between being a French speaker and a native French speaker.

a French native speakers

Singular or Plural? # 8

For the polyandrist?

Link: The Rugby Observer, 26 June 2014, p. 5

bride and grooms

Not Washed or Cooked, # 158

From the menu of Riccardo’s restaurant on Fulham Road, London. The first mangle is found on the permanent menu:

The second was listed among the daily specials:

The spellcheckers in Word, WordPerfect, Google and Firefox flagged both errors. Unlike yesterday’s restaurant-themed mangles, this seems not to be a case of challenges faced by non-native English speakers, since Riccardo’s owner was brought up and educated in England.

vennison; Parm ham

Multimangle, # 7

Submitted by Dr Faustus, this mangle-strewn copy was probably supplied by the restaurant and simply cut-and-pasted by staff at the deal-of-the-day website on which it appeared:

Link: Groupon, ‘All-You-Can-Eat World Buffet and Glass of Wine from £9 at Tara Tari’

In addition to the misspelling, the copy features some peculiar syntax, while the awared award-giver’s website confirms my instinct that the name of the prize is actually:

Link: OpenTable, Diners’ Choice, ‘2014 Best Outdoor Dining Restaurants’

Dinner’s Choice Awared; odd syntax

Double-take, # 85

A final outing for this book, which featured first in June and again yesterday:

Source: Peter Buitenhuis, The Great War of Words: Literature as Propaganda, 1914-18 and After (London: Batsford, 1989), p. 121

Opening and closing quotation marks have been transposed in the narrative interpolation, and double quotation marks inserted instead of the single marks indicating direct speech in the chosen style. Confused and confusing.

wrong sort of quotation marks & wrong way round

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 139

This book has already featured as Apostrophe Catastrophe, # 47 and now returns with an omission:

Source: Peter Buitenhuis, The Great War of Words: Literature as Propaganda, 1914-18 and After (London: Batsford, 1989), p. 181

had to bowdlerized

Apostrophe catastrophe, # 51

Dr Faustus has found another catastrophic apostrophe:

Link: Saskia Sarginson, ‘Saskia’s Writing Tips’

The good doctor comments, with justifiable disgust: ‘Apostrophe catastrophe (downright ghastly… and a ****ing writing website too!).’ Clearly, Ms Sarginson should have quit while she was ahead (i.e., after the section title).

tips for writer’s