Comments on: Oops, I don’t think they meant to say that http://www.badlanguage.net/oops-i-dont-think-they-meant-to-say-that How to communicate Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:00:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: David Bowman http://www.badlanguage.net/oops-i-dont-think-they-meant-to-say-that#comment-342588 David Bowman Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:29:32 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/?p=498#comment-342588 We're guessing that they don't have an editor on staff. Any good editor worth his or her salt should find such a blatant content problem and point it out to the writer. Relying on a word processor's grammar checker won't help the writer find this problem with missing words. Another problem with this same text (since we're being critical): "between an impressive £100 up to an astonishing £700". "Between" and "up to" are both incomplete comparisons. "Between this and that" or "This up to that" are fine, but this text is mixing phrases and creating incomplete comparisons (like: "never put your eggs before the horse"). Again-probably no editor on staff. Replacing the words "up to" with "and" would solve this problem. We’re guessing that they don’t have an editor on staff. Any good editor worth his or her salt should find such a blatant content problem and point it out to the writer.

Relying on a word processor’s grammar checker won’t help the writer find this problem with missing words.

Another problem with this same text (since we’re being critical): “between an impressive £100 up to an astonishing £700″. “Between” and “up to” are both incomplete comparisons. “Between this and that” or “This up to that” are fine, but this text is mixing phrases and creating incomplete comparisons (like: “never put your eggs before the horse”). Again-probably no editor on staff. Replacing the words “up to” with “and” would solve this problem.

]]> By: Milly Shaw http://www.badlanguage.net/oops-i-dont-think-they-meant-to-say-that#comment-189520 Milly Shaw Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:36:26 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/?p=498#comment-189520 sloppy proofing or frighteningly effective viral marketing...? ;-) sloppy proofing or frighteningly effective viral marketing…?
;-)

]]> By: John McGarvey http://www.badlanguage.net/oops-i-dont-think-they-meant-to-say-that#comment-188828 John McGarvey Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:37:12 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/?p=498#comment-188828 I know I'm completely missing the point here, but this is an interesting product. In these days of global warming and carbon footprints, I was astonished to find neither my new TV nor digibox has an 'off' button - only a standby mode. Maybe I could cut my bills a little with one of these. (Ok, so I could just bend down and just unplug the things, but that wouldn't give me an excuse to buy a new gadget.) I know I’m completely missing the point here, but this is an interesting product. In these days of global warming and carbon footprints, I was astonished to find neither my new TV nor digibox has an ‘off’ button - only a standby mode. Maybe I could cut my bills a little with one of these. (Ok, so I could just bend down and just unplug the things, but that wouldn’t give me an excuse to buy a new gadget.)

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