Remedial Writing
Ubiquitous
Associated Press story on dissolute celebrity Britney Spears:
A court creates conservatorships when a person cannot care for
themselves or handle his or her own affairs.
The plural reflexive pronoun does not match the singular antecedent, and that
"his or her own affairs" is awkward on its own, more so coming after
"themselves."
The simplest way of writing this sentence would have been:
A court creates conservatorships when a person cannot care for
himself or handle his own affairs.
But journalists these days are in thrall to political
correctness--specifically feminism, which balks at the masculine pronouns
doing double-duty as gender-neutral (while at the same time insisting on using
masculine common nouns, such as actor, to refer even to women). Even so, the
sentence could have been written in a less grammatically violent way without
ruffling any feminist feathers:
A court creates conservatorships when people cannot care for
themselves or handle their own affairs.
This, meanwhile, comes from a Baltimore Sun story about a horrific case in
which a 15-year-old boy allegedly murdered his parents and two younger
brothers:
Neighbors in this quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood on a
hillside east of York Road said they were sickened by the
thought that the respectful boy might have killed his whole
family inside their stately colonial home with its wrap-around
porch.
If you forced an al Qaeda terrorist to diagram that sentence, Democrats in
Congress would accuse you of torture.
--
It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which
the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn
our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad
for them, it's failing.
Kirk
"Ubiquitous" <web...@polaris.net> wrote in message
news:1OednXVnH_yjljba...@giganews.com...
> The simplest way of writing this sentence would have been:
>
> A court creates conservatorships when a person cannot care for
> himself or handle his own affairs.
>
> But journalists these days are in thrall to political
> correctness--specifically feminism, which balks at the masculine pronouns
> doing double-duty as gender-neutral (while at the same time insisting on
> using
> masculine common nouns, such as actor, to refer even to women). Even so,
> the
> sentence could have been written in a less grammatically violent way
> without
> ruffling any feminist feathers:
I'm waiting for them to have a problem for words where "man" appears in the
center. For example, "penmanship," "seamanship," etc. We're already stuck
with "spokesperson."
> Neighbors in this quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood on a
> hillside east of York Road said they were sickened by the
> thought that the respectful boy might have killed his whole
> family inside their stately colonial home with its wrap-around
> porch.
There needs to be a five-day waiting period for those porches.
-- Kirk
"Whoa. Even the Army has humvees now."
- Bart Simpson
z
> I'm waiting for them to have a problem for words where "man" appears in the
> center. For example, "penmanship," "seamanship," etc. We're already stuck
> with "spokesperson."
woman -> woperson -> woperdaughter
Old Martin Mull routine.
z
> This, meanwhile, comes from a Baltimore Sun story about a horrific case in
> which a 15-year-old boy allegedly murdered his parents and two younger
> brothers:
>
> Neighbors in this quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood on a
> hillside east of York Road said they were sickened by the
> thought that the respectful boy might have killed his whole
> family inside their stately colonial home with its wrap-around
> porch.
>
> If you forced an al Qaeda terrorist to diagram that sentence, Democrats in
> Congress would accuse you of torture.
nothing wrong with that sentence, it's quite clear. weird, but clear.
like that monty python skit about a sponsored tv series of great
dramas: "Long Day's Journey into Night While Losing Up To Ten Pounds
Effortlessly with SlenderPants"