Most of my posts have been about the written word - but just as people seem not to read what they write, neither do they listen to what they are saying much of the time.
For example, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, the newsreader (Susan Ray) said - of the incident in which a British man fell to his death from a Mexican hotel window - "Police are questioning a woman about the incident, probably his girlfriend". Written down, it looks dumb: how can an incident be anyone's girlfriend?
You don't need to know the exact rules of English grammar to realise that something coming after a comma usually refers to the most recently-mentioned subject. So, either "Police are questioning a woman, probably his girlfriend, about the incident" or "Police are questioning a woman about the incident. She is probably his girlfriend" would make more sense.
Engage brain first, open mouth second. Now there's an idea.
02/02/07 @ 16:08