Thank you, David.

Carolyn Breedlove

David Haberstich wrote:

>  Warning: This is a complaint about H. Carroll's recent rant about
> newspapers. Please read no further if you are offended by such
> exchanges.
>
>  First, as someone who only with great difficulty can resist correcting
> the grammar and spelling of strangers on the Internet, let me caution
> that one indulges in such activity at the risk of being, in turn, the
> recipient of corrections.
>   Your gripes about the quality of writing in newspapers, first of all,
> are far too general. It should be fairly obvious that quality will vary
> all over the map. I don't know what your local newspaper was, but the
> newspaper I read is of consistently high quality and superior style. It
> isn't perfect, and errors therefore stick out like sore thumbs. The most
> frequent error involves the use of the verbs "lie" and "lay" and their
> tenses, which apparently confuse you as well (your newspapers LAY on the
> steps, not LAID); I don't know about you, but these words were covered
> in my sixth grade English classes, if not earlier. I think you'll find
> that most grammarians would prefer "a police officer who" rather than "a
> police officer that". By the way, thanks for spelling "grammar"
> correctly, rather than the incorrect way many subscribers to this list
> do. But speaking of the list, the fact that there is so much flagrant
> misuse of English on an allegedly professional list--combined with
> people aggressively defending their right to deviate from accepted
> usage--that it should be no wonder if there is a corresponding decline
> in newspaper English. I wonder, H. Carroll, how you can stand to be on a
> listserv like this if you have so much trouble with the inadequacies of
> newspapers?
>
> As far as being well-informed is concerned, your assertion that "fleeing
> is a shootable offense" is a simplistic, uninformed, inaccurate opinion.
> You would be well advised to read more crime and courtroom reportage to
> straighten out this little misunderstanding. I think the educated person
> must be aware of newspapers to be even moderately well informed. That
> doesn't mean you must believe everything you read--nor is there any
> reason to discount everything either. I accept what I read
> provisionally. Truth, like life, is subject to revision.
>
> --David Haberstich