Double-take, # 103

A syntactical nightmare:

Source: London Evening Standard, 11 August, 2014, p. 19. Link: online version

This is so badly phrased that it is possible to interpret it as a description of a pair of coincidental events instead of events connected as cause and effect.

The key error here is the incorrect use of the simple past instead of the pluperfect (often now called past perfect) form that is needed to demonstrate the temporal logic and relation of events. This kind of elision or oversimplification of tenses is increasing in British-English writing, perhaps influenced by films, television programmes and books from the USA, where it has been common for some time.

A ‘that’ after ‘signs’ to mark the beginning of the relative clause would also aid comprehension.

after doctors failed to spot signs he suffered a stroke