137 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
137 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
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about-us
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style-book
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simon-heffers-style-notes
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4176440
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-----
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# Style notes 10: Dec 12 2008
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3:34PM GMT 09 Dec 2008
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Dear Colleague
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Forgive the interruption in normal service: I took the liberty of having a
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short holiday. Also, the observant among you will have noticed that the last
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two Notes have both been number 8. The last should have been number 9. I only
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ever claimed to be literate, not numerate. Should you encounter a Style Notes
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No 9 it is an elaborate forgery.
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One or two distressing errors have appeared since I last wrote, and they
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exemplify the importance of making sure we know what we are talking about. We
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gave the impression last week that a bullock grows into a bull. It doesn't. A
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bullock is a castrated bull, not a small one. The bullock concerned was called
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Field Marshal, which we managed to spell "Field Marshall", an error pointed
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out in an email to me from a man who described himself as a retired
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lieutenant-kernal. We also managed to publish a list of the 100 greatest
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living geniuses, three of whom were in fact dead. Worst of all, the man who
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was listed at number one was among them.
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Then there were some elementary grammatical errors. Criteria is a plural noun,
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not a singular. Adverbs, to which some of you remain notably resistant, and
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not adjectives are needed to qualify verbs. We wrote "the economy shrank
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steeper than expected" when it in fact shrank more steeply. We seem to get
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confused by plural nouns and the verbs they need. There was, though, no excuse
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for "the chances of winning has already fallen" or for "the potential for
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conflicts of interest are immense". Talking of confusion, we also had "Patrice
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Evra was is considering an appeal". It really doesn't take that long to read
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something back properly.
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Please note - and it is merely a question of logic - that you cannot centre
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around something, you only centre upon it. Also, it was probably unfortunate
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to describe would-be shoe bombers as having "cold feet". On the subject of
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hackneyed usages, we seem to be doing a lot of "soaring" at the moment, and
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making the tabloid substitution "terror" for terrorism.
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Pastime has only one "s" in it. Southend is in Essex, not Sussex. Tires are
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only found on American cars. There is a town in the Auvergne called Clermont-
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Ferrand, but none called Clairement-Ferrand. Roy Keane had a reign as
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Sunderland manager, not a rein, which is a different sport altogether. Four is
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a number; for is a preposition. Finally, and more seriously, there were no
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Polish concentration camps. There were camps run by the Nazis that were
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situated in Poland.
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With best wishes
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Simon Heffer
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Associate Editor
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The Daily Telegraph
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[X][1] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][2]
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* Share: [Share][1] [ ][3] [ ][4]
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[Tweet][5]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/simon-heffers-style-
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notes/4176440/Style-notes-10-Dec-12-2008.html
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Telegraph
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## [Simon Heffer's Style Notes][6]
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[X][1] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][2]
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Share:
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* [ ][1]
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* [ ][3]
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* [ ][4]
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* [Tweet][5]
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* Advertisement
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![][7]
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Advertisement
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][8]
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### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][9]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][10]][9]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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