Tapsearch Com EditorNote to the SF Chronicle on pronoun use
February 1st 2007 14:54
When you've introduced two nouns in a sentence, and the same pronoun could be used to describe either, you can't use the pronoun.
Case in point:
"San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager [Alex Tourk] resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said."
My first reaction was, how can Newsom have an affair with his own wife? Was it before they were married -- is Tourk mad because he thinks she got preferential treatment?
What the story means by "his," though, is "Tourk's." Our boy Newsom had an affair with Tourk's wife.
Funny detail:
"[She t]old him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse."
So honey, the drug problem is getting better...but I had sex with your boss! Wait, what's the matter?
Newsom is now dating a 20-year-old. Who drinks. That's some city.
Case in point:
"San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager [Alex Tourk] resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said."
My first reaction was, how can Newsom have an affair with his own wife? Was it before they were married -- is Tourk mad because he thinks she got preferential treatment?
What the story means by "his," though, is "Tourk's." Our boy Newsom had an affair with Tourk's wife.
Funny detail:
"[She t]old him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse."
So honey, the drug problem is getting better...but I had sex with your boss! Wait, what's the matter?
Newsom is now dating a 20-year-old. Who drinks. That's some city.
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Comment by Anonymous
I found this posting to be quite humorous. - One thing I do is read my stuff out loud prior to posting to find inconsistancies like this. Helps with the spelling too. Perhaps this idea could be incorporated at the SF Chronicle. - Doesn't always work but it helps. -
Then again they might find it painful to hear their stuff out loud.
Keep up the good work. I'm off to read the piece you wrote on IQ and arrogance. I think I've got lots of both. Thats a good thing right?
See you on BNN if not here at your home base.
- prying1 -
Comment by Robert V
Thanks so much for reading, and for the comment. I don't read my own writing out loud, but I know plenty of writers who do.
Besides catching spelling problems and missing words, it reveals bad writing. When you can't put a group of words together verbally, or if you can't say a whole sentence without taking a breath, it's re-write time.