Recently on ABC TV, newsreader Jeremy Fernandes referred to Nelson Mandela’s memorial service as “What’s thought to be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in South Africa’s history”. This hyperbolic vagueness is nothing out of the ordinary. Our language harbours a growing cancer of over-the-top uncertainty.
Tag: grammar
Sloppy, vague sentences are ‘the new normal’ for Australian newspapers
Australian journalists either no longer know how to write clear, concise and grammatical sentences, or they no longer care. Every day, in ever newspaper in the land, we read sloppy, vague sentences written in the passive voice with hazy attribution and bad grammar. I’m going to pick on one example in particular, but if you…
‘Via’ and ‘with’ make the Grammar Nazi’s shit list
In my current source of employment, I often have to apply my immense knowledge of grammar and style (not!) to reviewing other people’s work. Amazingly, most of the time they don’t hate me for doing this. This gives me an opportunity (and audience) to rant about trends in modern English communication that piss me off….
