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MY MEDIA ENGLISH WATCH

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I am inviting Forum members to team up with me in doing My Media English Watch. This way, we can further widen this Forum’s dragnet for bad or questionable English usage in both the print media and broadcast media, thus giving more teeth to our campaign to encourage them to continuously improve their English. All you need to do is pinpoint every serious English misuse you encounter while reading your favorite newspaper or viewing your favorite network or cable TV programs. Just tell me about the English misuse and I will do a grammar critique of it.

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Straightening out a news passage with very serious grammar errors

This week, I’m leading off My Media English Watch with my grammar critique of this particularly error-laden news passage from one of the leading Metro Manila dailies:

Manila Bulletin: Improperly constructed front-end adjective phrase; misplaced modifying phrase; subject-verb disagreement errors (twice in a row)

Backyard gardening urged for security

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Optimistic in steadily reducing malnutrition prevalence, an official from the Region 7 office of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) is encouraging households to venture into backyard gardening especially those having malnourished children.

“We urge parents especially those having malnourished children to have backyard gardens where they can plant nutritious vegetables for their kids. This will also benefit them economically,” said Parolita Mission, executive director of NNC7.

Mission stressed that having backyard gardens do not necessarily need huge spaces as there are vegetable plants that survives in pot like tomatoes, cucumber among others.

The above lead passage suffers from four very serious grammatical errors: (a) an improperly worded front-end adjective phrase, “optimistic in steadily reducing malnutrition prevalence,” in the first sentence; (b) a misplaced and not-very-well-worded modifying phrase, “especially those having malnourished children,” also in the first sentence; (c) a subject-verb disagreement error in the phrase “having backyard gardens do not necessarily need huge spaces” in the third paragraph; and (d) another subject-verb disagreement error in the phrase “vegetable plants that survives in pot,” also in the third paragraph. It’s evident that the writer of the story isn’t very well-acquainted with these aspects of English grammar, and that the section editor in charge had been less than vigilant and thorough in vetting the news story before it went to print.

  1. The adjective phrase “optimistic in steadily reducing malnutrition prevalence” does a vague, off-tangent job as modifier of the noun phrase “an official from the Region 7 office of the National Nutrition Council (NNC),” which is the subject of the main clause.* A clearer, more effective form for that adjective phrase is “optimistic that + subject + verb + complement,” as in “optimistic that the prevailing malnutrition in Region 7 can be steadily reduced.”
  2. Because it is wrongly positioned in the sentence, the modifying phrase “especially those having malnourished children” wrongly modifies “backyard gardening” when it should be modifying “households” instead. For the modification to be done correctly, the sentence needs to be rewritten such that “households” is positioned as close as possible to that modifying phrase.
  3. In the third paragraph, there’s a subject-verb disagreement error in the phrase “having backyard gardens do not necessarily need huge spaces” because the true subject in that phrase is the gerund phrase “having backyard gardens”—gerunds are by nature always singular in number—and not the plural term “backyard gardens.” The operative verb should therefore be in the singular form “does not need” instead of the plural form “do not need.”
  4. Also in the third paragraph, there’s another subject-verb disagreement error in the phrase “vegetable plants that survives in pot.” The subject of the verb “survives” in that phrase is the plural form “vegetable plants,” so to agree with its plural subject, that verb should not be in the singular form “survives” but in the plural form “survive.”  

Here now is that highly problematic passage with all of its grammar errors corrected:

Optimistic that the prevailing malnutrition in Region 7 can be steadily reduced, an official from the region’s National Nutrition Council (NNC) is encouraging households, especially those with malnourished children, to venture into backyard gardening.

“‘We urge parents especially those having malnourished children to have backyard gardens where they can plant nutritious vegetables for their kids. This will also benefit them economically,’ said Parolita Mission, executive director of NNC7.

“Mission stressed that having backyard gardens does not necessarily need huge spaces as there are vegetable plants like tomatoes and cucumber that survive in pot.”
----------------
*NOTE: The form “optimistic in…” works perfectly in such constructions as “optimistic in outlook” or “optimistic in his estimates” where the adjective “optimistic” directly modifies a particular attribute of the subject. As is evident in the sentence in question here, the form “optimistic in…” does a faulty and slippery modifying job for abstract continuing actions like “steadily reducing malnutrition prevalence” in the absence of a person or agency doing the reduction. When that person or agency is provided, the modification using “optimistic in…” can work properly, as we can see in this sentence: “Optimistic in Region 7’s capability to steadily reduce its prevailing malnutrition problem, an official from the region’s National Nutrition Council (NNC) is encouraging households, especially those with malnourished children, to venture into backyard gardening.”

SHORT TAKES IN MY MEDIA ENGLISH WATCH:

(1) The Manila Times: Overstatement in news reporting

MMDA pulls down eyesore billboards

Near-naked women romp on billboards looming over the entire stretch of Metro-Manila’s Efipanio de los Santos Avenue and other major thoroughfares.

Similar images of men have been deemed too risqué, with giant posters of bare-chested football players pulled following a public outcry. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority took the cue.

I move around Metro Manila every now and then using the EDSA route, but whether literally or figuratively, I have never seen near-naked women “romp on billboards” over that 24 km stretch. Women in various states of dishabille running or playing in a carefree or boisterous manner on those billboards? That would be such an interesting and titillating sight indeed, but truth to tell, all I’ve seen—and I think all that everybody will see—are billboards with images of woman in sensual repose or seductive poses—never romping nor as much as make a provocative jump.

Perhaps the reporter should have subdued her imagination somewhat by reporting what she saw as follows:

Near-naked women display themselves on billboards looming over the entire stretch of Metro-Manila’s Efipanio de los Santos Avenue and other major thoroughfares.”

or, a little more risqué, perhaps this way:

Near-naked women show off themselves on billboards looming over the entire stretch of Metro-Manila’s Efipanio de los Santos Avenue and other major thoroughfares.”

Any more truthful, realistic descriptions?

(2) GMA News Online: Improper wording of verb phrase; use of colloquialism in reportage

Schools to use rain water

CATARMAN, Northern Samar, Philippines (PIA) — Soon, public schools that have perennial lack of water will have 24/7 supply of this precious commodity with the harnessing of rainwater.

For starters, three public elementary schools have been selected for the Rainwater Collection System that would assure the supply of water to schoolchildren in Northern Samar.

The lead sentence above has two grammatical problems.

The first is its improper wording of the verb phrase “have perennial lack of water.” One can’t “have” a “lack” of something, so it’s clear that “have” isn’t the proper verb to use in this case. Some semantically correct alternative wordings are as follows: “perennially lack water,” “have been perennially experiencing lack of water,” and “have been suffering perennial lack of water.”

The second grammatical problem—it’s also a language problem—is the use of the colloquial expression “24/7” to mean “24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” Although the expression is now liberally used in conversational English and in news and feature story headlines, it sounds specious or showy when used in the story proper itself. I think the adjective “continuous” does the job better and more naturally.

Here then is a proposed revision of that lead sentence:

“Soon, public schools that perennially lack water will have a continuous supply of this precious commodity with the harnessing of rainwater.”

For even more grammatical finesse and greater readability, I would strongly recommend putting up front that tail-end prepositional phrase, “with the harnessing of rainwater,” which is on the verge of dangling in that sentence:

With the harnessing of rainwater, public schools that perennially lack water soon will have a continuous supply of this precious commodity.”

(3) GMA News Online: Misuse of the present tense

Law enforcers raid 4-ha marijuana farm in Agusan del Sur

Police, army, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) personnel raided a four hectare marijuana plantation in Loreto, Agusan del Sur Thursday evening. As of Saturday, they are still uprooting the full-grown shrubs.

No arrests were made. The raid capped a month of surveillance and intelligence operations, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Butuan, Caraga region.

The second sentence of the lead paragraph above misuses the present tense in the clause “they are still uprooting the full-grown shrubs.” Since the action was continuing in a specific day in the past, the past progressive tense form “they were still uprooting” is the correct tense to use:

“Police, army, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) personnel raided a four hectare marijuana plantation in Loreto, Agusan del Sur Thursday evening. As of Saturday, they were still uprooting the full-grown shrubs.”

(4) The Manila Times: Misuse of verb tense

60 kph speed limit eyed to lessen road mishaps

THE imposition of a 60-kilometer per hour (kph) speed limit in major roads and highways of Metro Manila has been proposed in the House of Representatives over the weekend.

Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City made the call under his House Bill 4775 or the Speed Limit Act of 2011, saying that a Metro Manila-wide speed limit will help the country achieve a zero road accident rate.

The lead sentence above misused the present perfect tense in the verb phrase “has been proposed in the House of Representatives over the weekend.” Since the precise time of occurrence of the action is given, “over the weekend,” the simple past tense “was proposed” should have been used instead, as follows:

“The imposition of a 60-kilometer per hour (kph) speed limit in major roads and highways of Metro Manila was proposed in the House of Representatives over the weekend.”

We must always remember that in English, a verb expressing action completed at a specific time in the past should take the past tense, while a verb expressing action completed at the time of speaking should take the present perfect tense.

(5) Manila Bulletin: Misuse of verb tense

DA introduces new adlai crop

TIAONG, Quezon, Philippines — Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has introduced the protein-rich adlai as an alternative crop in Southern Tagalog region during the launching of 17 various agricultural projects at the Quezon Agricultural Experiment Station (QAES) in Barangay Lagalag this town on Tuesday.

As in Item 4, the lead sentence above misused the present perfect tense in the verb phrase “has introduced the protein-rich adlai.” Since the precise time of occurrence of the action is given, “on Tuesday,” the simple past tense “was introduced” should have been used instead, as follows:

“Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala introduced the protein-rich adlai as an alternative crop in Southern Tagalog region during the launching of 17 various agricultural projects at the Quezon Agricultural Experiment Station (QAES) in Barangay Lagalag this town on Tuesday.”

(6) Manila Bulletin: Subject-verb disagreement; confusing use of the tenses

No water supply in Bgy. Tatalon and Bgy. Sto. Domingo

MANILA, Philippines --The water supply in Barangay Tatalon and Barangay Sto. Domingo in Quezon City were temporarily cut off by Maynilad earlier after the pipeline along Quezon Avenue had been hit by a backhoe being used in the ongoing C3 Interchange Project.

Maynilad Spokesperson Cherubim Ocampo, in an interview, said that Maynilad is doing its best to expedite the repair of the pipeline and assured the affected barangays that the water supply will resume immediately, expectedly by 1:00 a.m.

In the lead sentence above, there’s a subject-verb disagreement between the singular noun “water supply” and the plural form operative verb, “were temporarily cut off.” That verb should be in the singular form “was temporarily cut off” instead.

There’s confusion in the use of the tenses in the phrase “earlier after the pipeline along Quezon Avenue had been hit by a backhoe.” For clarity, the adverb “earlier” should be dropped altogether and the past-perfect verb phrase “had been hit by a backhoe” should be changed to the simple past tense “was hit by a backhoe.”

Here’s that problematic sentence as corrected:

“The water supply in Barangay Tatalon and Barangay Sto. Domingo in Quezon City was temporarily cut off by Maynilad after the pipeline along Quezon Avenue was hit by a backhoe being used in the ongoing C3 Interchange Project.”

(7) The Philippine Star: Use of wrong word

PMA bats for anti-smoking program inclusion in school curriculum 

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) will push for the integration of anti-tobacco campaign in the curriculum of students to create a generation of non-smoking Filipinos in the near future.

PMA president Dr. Oscar Tinio said that for best results, it is best to promote the concept of smoke-free Philippines among children.

“We will partner with government agencies particularly the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and work for the integration of an anti-smoking course for students in the elementary, high school and college levels to protect our youth from getting hook into this deadly habit,” he noted.

The phrase “in the curriculum of students” in the lead sentence above is wrongly worded. By definition, “curriculum” means “the courses offered by an educational institution,” so it’s grammatically and semantically improper to attribute its possession to students. The correct form for that phrase is “in the school curriculum,” as follows:

“The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) will push for the integration of the anti-tobacco campaign into the school curriculum to create a generation of non-smoking Filipinos in the near future.”

(8) The Philippine Star: Use of wrong phrasal verb

Army captures two NPA camps in Agusan del Norte

MANILA, Philippines - Sustained operations of the Philippine Army against the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Northern Mindanao has resulted to the capture two rebel camps in Agusan del Norte, the military reported yesterday.

Maj. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista, Cagayan de Oro City said that two captured NPA camps are located at Sitio Malanay, Barangay Sangay, Buenavista town.

The lead sentence above uses the nonstandard form “resulted to” in the verb phrase “has resulted to the capture”; the widely accepted grammatical form is “resulted in.” Also, most likely due to a proofreading oversight, the object “two rebel camps” can’t grammatically connect to the verb phrase “has resulted in the capture” because the preposition “of” is missing.

In the second sentence, the absence of the article “the” before the noun phrase “two captured NPA camps” gives the wrong sense that the camps referred to are not the same two camps mentioned in the preceding sentence.

Here are those two grammatically flawed sentences as corrected:

“Sustained operations of the Philippine Army against the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Northern Mindanao have resulted in the capture of two rebel camps in Agusan del Norte, the military reported yesterday.

“Maj. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista, Cagayan de Oro City said that the two captured NPA camps are located at Sitio Malanay, Barangay Sangay, Buenavista town.”

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