Very poor English

[Sfgraveston]

I had always thought that those employed by magazines would be well trained to write accurate English. So how about this example?

?What's your Motivations

Why the question mark at the start? Why does 'motivations' need a capital letter - it is not a proper noun? I don't need to tell you the other glaring error.

And where is this hideous example of the mutilation of our language to be found? The answer is the home page of this website.

Someone needs to get their act together.

Stuart

[Will]

Oh, how dreadful.

It's always a good idea, when criticising another's grammar, to ensure that your own is beyond reproach - so perhaps you might care to edit your post because you have made one of the same mistakes yourself.

I am a magazine editor, by the way, but cannot claim never to have made any mistakes in print.

[GRT17]

Sfg.

Well done for posting.

Yes, mistakes do happen but this heading has really been annoying me.

Gill

[Sfgraveston]

Cher Guillaume le Conquerant

Where is my error? I am always willing to learn, so please enlighten me.

Stuart

[Will]

'Someone' is singular, 'their' is plural. Rather pedantic I admit, and an error that crops up so often, especially in spoken English, that it's in danger of becoming accepted usage. But it was one of those things drummed into us during the journalistic training that web authors manage to avoid, to the detriment of the English language.  

Thanks for pointing it out, as you say it's pretty poor use of English. Lets hope somebody from the magazine sees this and corrects it.

Before anybody feels obliged to go through my postings then I hold up my hands and admit to all grammatical errors. I know I'm even less perfect than most.

[Jc]

Which should you use then-he,she or it's?

[Will]

That's where it gets clumsy, which is why the use of 'their' is so popular. In this case the correct wording would be 'his or her' but most journalists would probably write the phrase differently to avoid the difficulty.

Isn't pedantry wonderful?

[Anton Redman]

[quote]I had always thought that those employed by magazines would be well trained to write accurate English. So how about this example??What's your MotivationsWhy the question mark at the start? Why does 'm...[/quote]

Why it is our language ?  The only time I become possessive about English is when anybody becomes upset about the changes Benjamin Franklin made which ensured North America decided that English should be adopted as the langauge of the United States. If you want to imagine history changed by a single event imagine a German speaking USA in 1916 or 1941 

[RayB]

[quote]Why it is our language ? The only time I become possessive about English is when anybody becomes upset about the changes Benjamin Franklin made which ensured North America decided that English should...[/quote]

**If you want to imagine history changed by a single event imagine a German speaking USA in 1916 or 1941 **

Or the UK for that matter.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]I had always thought that those employed by magazines would be well trained to write accurate English. So how about this example??What's your MotivationsWhy the question mark at the start? Why does 'm...[/quote]

What a pointless post. You bored? Having looked at your previous posts, greenhouses and stones come to mind.

[Sfgraveston]

Dear Senior Member (what on earth is a Senior Member - how does one get promoted to this elevated position?)

Pointless it is not. Clearly it has interested and inspired you sufficiently to go and look at my previous posts. I made a valid point about a piece of EXCEPTIONALLY poor English. Shouldn't we all be aiming to write as well as possible even if we do make mistakes (in my case an inappropriate use of 'their' - a point of which I was not aware)?

Are you suggesting that we should only criticize (or would you prefer criticise) if we have attained grammatical perfection? In which case criticism in any sphere would cease.

No, I am not bored as you ask.

Stuart