"in Scandinavia.Jon Danielsson, an Icelandic economist...."
The New Yorker rarely makes mistakes, at least that I ever catch, so I was surprised to see this typo. There should be a space between the period and "Jon."
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Mistake 25
The Moline Dispatch - March 13, 2009
Only regret: Flames didn't 'win'
"That's also not to mention the talent this farm team feeds to a Calgary Flames team that is 40-22-6 and is the third-best time in the Western Conference, and is in Stanley Cup talks this season."
Other than the clearly misplaced comma after "Conference," this sentence is poorly written, with two many verbs. It should read "a Calgary Flames team that is 40-22-6, the third-best team in the conference, and in the Stanley Cup talks..."
Mistake 24
The Moline Dispatch - March 13, 2009
Only regret: Flames didn't 'win'
"As he pondered each question carefully, it was clear the part-American Hockey League owner was all-hockey fan, and hates to lose the franchise...."
There are two mistakes in this sentence. One is a tense issue. If the subject "was" a hockey fan," then the verb should be "hated" not "hate." Otherwise, the tense changes from past to present in the same sentence.
The second mistake is one of clarity. It sounds like he is part-American, not part-owner, especially since the line ends after "American," and the phrase starts up again in the next line.
Mistake 23
The Moline Dispatch- March 13, 2009
Some school districts considering 4-day week
"'It's hard to get to the why, of course, because so many things affect student achievement,' said Andrea D. Beesley of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Denver."
It's difficult to see this mistake without the entire article, but it's still apparent. The sentence before this one says that 4-day school weeks have led to better performance by students. My problem with this quote is that it doesn't say anything Why include this quote, saying that they don't know why the phenomena is happening? Readers want positive statements, not negative statements. Quotes should be powerful. You shouldn't quote someone saying they don't know, unless that ignorance is important.
Mistake 22
The Moline Dispatch - March 13, 2009
The paper was rife with mistakes on just the first day I came home.
"Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to pulling off what could be the biggest, most spectacular swindle Wall Street has ever seen, and was sent off to jail in handcuffs..."
The comma after "seen" should be removed. The subject of "was sent off" is "Bernard Madoff," so there it is not an independent clause and should not have a comma.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Mistake 21
TimesDelphic.com (March 9, 2009)
Next, he asked what our strengths are and what we can improve on. Troyer found answers started by looking for people that can be honest with you.
Troyer gives Last Lecture
Next, he asked what our strengths are and what we can improve on. Troyer found answers started by looking for people that can be honest with you.
There are not grammatical mistakes here, but it doesn't make sense. "Troyer found answers started" is almost nonsensical. I would suggest a different verb, but I don't know what the writer is trying to say.
Mistake 20
More from my hometown newspaper
Moline Dispatch - March 10, 2009
No one else was found in the vehicle and it was removed from the river.
There should be a comma after "vehicle." These are two independent clauses connected by a conjunction, so there should be a comma before the conjunction.
Mistake 19
Des Moines Register March 11, 2009
Civic leaders among those arrested in West Des Moines prostitution sting
The men ranged in age from 43 to 70, and included:
There should not be a comma after "70." The subject of the verb "included" is "men," so it is not an independent clause requiring a comma.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Mistake 18
Quad-Cities Online
But the recently passed federal stimulus bill pumped more dollars into the program so Moline got its grant in a second round of awards, said Frankie Atwater, the city's community development manager.
This is my hometown newspaper, and I try to keep abreast of what's going on back home.
HUD grant to help get the lead out of Quad-Cities homes
But the recently passed federal stimulus bill pumped more dollars into the program so Moline got its grant in a second round of awards, said Frankie Atwater, the city's community development manager.
This is a run-on sentence, because there is not comma before "so." "So" is a conjunction and needs to have a comma before it when combining two independent clauses, just like "and."
Mistake 17
DesMoinesRegister.com
The governor said the 1 percent sales tax increased passed in Linn County on Tuesday
Culver addresses flood recovery from Old Capitol
The governor said the 1 percent sales tax increased passed in Linn County on Tuesday
The d in "increased" needs to be omitted to become "increase." Otherwise there are two active verbs right next to each other in the sentence, and it doesn't make sense.
Mistake 16
Facebook.com
OK, so I know this is Facebook and not published journalism, but this is a mistake that often annoys me on Facebook, so I'm going to gripe about it. Hey, the real media can't mess up all the time. The name has been omitted to protect identity.
In a status, Blank Blank "is gets to play with kittens today."
This is representative of many other status reports. People always forget to delete the "is" in front of their name and just continue on with the sentence.
Mistake 15
TimesDelphic.com (March 5, 2009)
"The Bacchae' is all about people's refusal to accept change," Sharkey said.
There is an apostrophe after Bacchae that doesn't belong. If it's meant to be an internal quotation mark, then there needs to be another one before "the."
Mistake 15
TimesDelphic.com (March 5, 2009)
"The Bacchae' is all about people's refusal to accept change," Sharkey said.
There is an apostrophe after Bacchae that doesn't belong. If it's meant to be an internal quotation mark, then there needs to be another one before "the."
Mistake 14
My brother sent this to me this summer before the Olympics, and I just remembered it now. I'm not mocking China's mastery of English, but some of these mistakes/misunderstandings/mistranslations are pretty darned funny.
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Mistake 13
The Times-Delphic (March 2, 2009)
Vice President of Student Life Eric Gudmundson (AS, J3) presided over a turbulent Student Senate meeting Thursday. Gudmundson, filling in for Student Body President Kevin Kuhle (J4), scrambled to mediate a heated discussion during speakers and issues centered around negative campaigning
I had to read this sentence several times before I figured out what they meant and why it sounded so weird. You can't do something during speakers; you can do only do something during speaking. This mistake is a little more understandable than the next one. You really can't do anything during issues. How can something be during an issue? It's not an event or anything with a timeframe.
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