, ,  I’m a bit of a stickler about grammar. I cringe when I see
things like “Its snowing now” or “Their going to the movies.”
Similarly, it bothers me when I read especially bad sentences.
In yesterday’s Columbus Dispatch, there was a short article
about a man who was charged with negligence in the death of his
daughter in a car accident last year. The sentence read: “He was
charged with failure to restrain his unbelted 12-year-old
daughter, Jessica, after she died in a Feb. 22 crash in which
another vehicle slid across the center line and struck his van
on an icy Rt. 22.”  I know that is not what the reporter
intended to say. (At least, I hope that’s not what the reporter
intended to say!) Why would the man restrain his daughter after
she died?  The incident was a tragedy and I don’t mean to sound
flippant. But that sentence is so poorly constructed that it has
bothered me ever since I read it yesterday. I think I need to
turn “editor mode” off every now and then.  About these ads