Thursday, October 18, 2007

Recent errors in the newspaper

Here are some sentences I found that needed further editing.

From Hawaii school honoring Iraq war vet grad:

Not only did she rebound from her injuries, she started to speak out for wounded servicemen, for veterans, for people who can't afford proper healthcare.

I'm pretty sure that the last item in that series needs an "and," and I personally like to hear "not only" paired with "but also," but I'm not sure if that's always necessary. I also don't think all of those "for"s are necessary. My version of the edited sentence would be,

"Not only did she rebound from her injuries, but she also started to speak out for wounded servicemen, veterans, and people who can't afford proper healthcare."

I also don't know if "servicemen" is considered too gender-biased. Would it be more PC to say "servicepeople" or "military officers?"

From Hawaii Superferry bill shields state on liability:

The Lingle administration would impose operating conditions on the Superferry to — at a minimum — protect whales and other marine mammals, prevent the spread of invasive species, and preserve cultural and natural resources. The administration should also consider placing state agricultural inspectors and conservation enforcement officers on each ferry voyage.

It seems like the second sentence should be reworded. As it stands, it sounds to me like the writer is stating a personal opinion: "The administration should..." I also don't think that the inspectors and officers are being placed on a "ferry voyage," since the voyage isn't really a location, and I don't think they would actually be placed on the ferry, either. Here's my revised version of the second sentence.

"The administration may also require that state agriculture inspectors and conservation enforcement officers are placed at each docking area for all voyages."

These are just my versions, so please let me know if you catch something else that needs editing or if you have any other suggestions. :)

1 comment:

Pat said...

Lovely job with these sentences, Jen :)