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A highly instructive potpourri of grammar and usage errors

I found nine serious and highly instructive English grammar and usage errors in today’s issues (May 21) of two of the major Metro Manila broadsheets. I’ll now go straight to them and do my usual critiques:

(1) Manila Bulletin: Misplaced modifying phrase; use of unnecessary preposition

(a) Misplaced modifying phrase

The phrase “being a 50-year-old bachelor” in the lead sentence above is a classic case of a misplaced modifier. It is supposed to be modifying the noun phrase “leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III,” but it has ended up modifying the noun phrase “the romantic life” instead. We therefore get the absurd idea of Sen. Aquino’s romantic life being the “50-year-old bachelor” itself.

The general rule for avoiding such misplaced modifiers is simply to position the modifying word or phrase as close as possible to the noun it modifies. Here, of course, the noun phrase to be modified is “leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III,” and its modifier is the phrase “being a 50-year-old bachelor.”

One way to carry out the intended modification is to put these two noun phrases side-by-side. This can be done my making the noun phrase “leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III” the subject of the main clause instead of “the romantic life,” as follows:

“Being a 50-year-old bachelor, leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has a romantic life that naturally attracts much attention and, for his closest friends, immense anxiety.”

Another way is to put “leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III” in the modifying phrase itself as its subject, as follows:

“Leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III being a 50-year-old bachelor, his romantic life naturally attracts much attention and, for his closest friends, immense anxiety.”

We can see that in both reconstructions of the problematic sentence, the modifying phrase and the noun it modifies have been positioned side-by-side, thus eliminating the possibility of modifier misplacement.

(b) Use of unnecessary preposition

In the second sentence of the second paragraph, “They argued that this shows he has shirked from taking on any responsibilities,” it is incorrect usage to tack on the preposition “from” to the verb “shirked.” “Shirked” as a stand-alone verb will do. Also, since the verb “shirk” by definition means “to evade the performance of an obligation,” the words “taking on” in the sentence in question are already subsumed by that definition, thus making them a redundancy.

That sentence can therefore be constructed more concisely as follows:

“They argued that this shows he has shirked any responsibilities.”     

(2) Manila Bulletin: Wrong direct object for the verb

The clause “Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile warned Wednesday his colleagues” is not only grammatically faulty but also very awkward in construction and a pain to read. Because of the bad positioning of the noun “Wednesday,” this name of the day wrongly becomes the direct object of the verb “warned” instead of the noun “his colleagues.” This is a very common error in news writing that’s often tolerated by editors despite the fact that it makes for very bad and unpleasant reading.

Based on my experience as editor, this grammar error can be easily avoided if not for the journalist’s traditional distaste for using the adjective “last” to modify the names of the days in their stories.

Here’s how that sentence can be made easier and more pleasant to read:

“Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile warned his colleagues in the 24-member Senate last Wednesday that he would not tolerate any grandstanding when they meet on May 25 to determine the winners of the May 10 presidential and vice presidential races.”

(Now see how not using the adjective “last” throws a monkey wrench on that finely constructed sentence: “Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile warned his colleagues in the 24-member Senate Wednesday that he would not tolerate any grandstanding when they meet on May 25 to determine the winners of the May 10 presidential and vice presidential races.” Of course, there’s no entity that goes by the name of “Senate Wednesday.”)

(3) Philippine Star: Use of wrong idiomatic phrase; misplaced time frame of action

(a) Use of wrong idiomatic phrase

In the lead sentence above, the phrase “in light of continued violence” is the wrong idiomatic expression for the purpose. The idiom “in light of” doesn’t mean “despite” or “in spite of,” which is the intended meaning in that sentence; what “in light of” means is “for the reason given,” “because of certain knowledge now on hand,” or “considering something.”

(b) Misplaced time frame of action

In the second paragraph of the passage above, the phrase for the time frame of the action, “as of yesterday morning,” is carelessly misplaced. The result is a very badly convoluted sentence that’s so difficult to comprehend.

Here’s a suggested reconstruction of the entire problematic passage:

Meantime, an embassy report said yesterday that Filipinos in Thailand are safe despite the continued violence in the country.

The Philippine embassy in Thailand reported to the DFA that as of yesterday morning, it had not received information on any Filipino national getting hurt or being put in mortal danger by the political turmoil.

(4) Philippine Star: Redundancy; wrong preposition usage

By definition, “maintain” means “to keep in an existing state,” “to continue in,” or “to keep up.” The “continuing” aspect is therefore already subsumed by the word “maintain,” so the phrase “continue to maintain” in the lead sentence above is a redundancy. Either “maintain” or “continue” as stand-alone verb will do in that sentence, as follows:

“Businessmen are maintaining their bullish outlook on the domestic economy due to higher spending brought about by the recently concluded May 10 elections, strong recovery in export earnings, moderate inflation, steady growth of overseas Filipino workers, and stable exchange rate.”

or:

“Businessmen continue to have a bullish outlook on the domestic economy due to higher spending brought about by the recently concluded May 10 elections, strong recovery in export earnings, moderate inflation, steady growth of overseas Filipino workers, and stable exchange rate.”

(5) Manila Bulletin: Doubtful use of reciprocal pronoun; confusing figurative language

(a) Doubtful use of reciprocal pronoun (“each other”)

The use of the reciprocal pronoun “each other” in the photo caption above may be questioned by grammar purists, who would insist that it should be “one another” instead because the reference is to three or more graduates of Class 2010. As a writer and editor, I prefer “one another” myself when the reference is to three or more people, and this is simply because I know that a lot of people think the same way, too, and I don’t want them to think that I don’t know the difference between the two reciprocal pronoun usages.

At any rate, to help Forum members make an informed choice, I’m quoting below my digital Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary’s usage note for “each other”:

(b) Confusing figurative language

In the second paragraph of the lead statement, I find the following sentence wrongheaded and confusing:

“Today, the dream continues to shed light on the lives of 777 scholars, and counting.”

Based on the sentence that precedes this sentence, I don’t think “the dream” is the proper subject of the sentence; more likely, it’s “the vision,” which is much closer to the idea of “advocates for a better education thought of putting up a foundation.”

Also, “shed light on” is out of context in that sentence, for that idiomatic expression means “make clear” or “make free from confusion or ambiguity.” Most likely, the writer meant the idiomatic expression “light the way for,” which means “illuminate.”

I would therefore suggest that that lead statement be corrected as follows:

[PHOTO CAPTION] “The scholar graduates of Class 2010 share their joys, struggles and life lessons with one another during a dinner party held for them by the Metrobank Foundation Inc.”

[LEAD SENTENCE] “Fifteen years ago, advocates for a better education thought of putting up a foundation to send less fortunate Filipinos to college. Today, the vision continues to light the way for the lives of 777 scholars, and still counting.”

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