You must have already heard the news about that horse and zebra mating at the Manila Zoo to produce what has been alternatively called a “hebra” and a “zorse.” Well, whether “hebra” or “zorse,” zoo officials described its birth as “a very rare event.” Obviously, of course, it became delightful fodder for both the broadcast and print media. But at least in one major broadsheet’s reportage, it generated a very serious case of species and animal gender confusion and several grammar and semantic problems besides.
Let’s now closely examine the extraordinary language and grammar problems triggered by that exceptionally rare interbreeding:
Manila Bulletin: Species and animal gender confusion; various other grammar and semantic problemsCAPTION: A week-old ‘hebra’ flexes
its muscle and feels the earth alongside its mother, a zebra. Hebra’s father is a horse.
Zebra gives birth to horse
It was a mismatch made in heaven.
A domesticated stallion, said to be isolated by other horses, found love with a herd of zebras and bore an offspring called “hebra” after it was placed inside the latter’s pen in Manila Zoo, city zoo officials reported on Monday.
The newly born hebra or crossbreed of zebra and horse, however, remains to be in a “guarded” situation as the fawn might develop several complications, which might be brought about by mismatches of genes from two animals, according to Manila Zoo division chief Dr. Donald Manalastas.
“A very rare occurrence had happened in Manila Zoo last week as our zebra had finally gave birth to a hebra. Though the fawn may look healthy and active now, we are still monitoring its health,” Manalastas told the Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview.
This is a very interesting human-interest story that admittedly has produced a very charming, well-worded lead, “It was a mismatch made in heaven.” Wow! That imagery is truly impressive! Unfortunately, though, the story is riddled with very serious grammar and semantic errors, namely (1) animal species confusion, (2) animal gender confusion and wrong verb usage, (3) pronouns with mixed-up or unclear antecedents, (4) redundant wording of a verb phrase, (5) misuse of a nonrestrictive relative clause as a modifier, (6) wrong term for an animal’s young, (7) wrong tense for the verb, (8 ) erroneous form of the past perfect, and (9) wrong use of a noun’s singular form.
(1) Species confusion: This is perhaps understandable because of the oddity of the animal birth being reported, but I must say that both the headline of the news story and the caption of the accompanying exhibit serious confusion as to the kind of animal being reported about. The headline says that what was born is a “horse,” but this is contradicted by the photo caption, which says that the young animal is a “hebra.” Even in an exceptional situation like this, the least we expect is for the reporter and his newspaper to be consistent with terminology so as not to confuse the readers. From what we can gather later in the story, that cute, young half-breed—even if it’s a horse look-alike—is more aptly named a “hebra,” not a “horse.”
(2) Animal gender confusion and wrong verb usage: The second paragraph states that “
A domesticated stallion…
bore an offspring called ‘hebra’…” The use of the verb “bore” gives the erroneous impression that it was the stallion that became pregnant with and that gave birth to the “hebra.” This couldn’t be, of course, for a stallion is an uncastrated male horse kept for breeding. It’s the zebra that’s female in this case, so it’s the one that “bore” or mothered that offspring; the stallion just “sired” or fathered it. (The verb “bear” in this context means “to give birth to” or “to produce as yield,” a phenomenon that, of course, is unique to the female of the species.) That statement should therefore be semantically and grammatically corrected as follows: “
A domesticated stallion…mated with a zebra and
sired an offspring called ‘hebra’…” Conversely, it can also be correctly restated as follows: “
A zebra…mated with a domesticated stallion and
bore an offspring called “hebra.”(3) Pronouns with mixed-up or unclear antecedents: Also in the second paragraph, the subordinate clause “it was placed inside the latter’s pen” is extremely confusing. Because of the preponderance of preceding nouns in the main clause (“domesticated stallion,” “herd of zebras,” “an offspring called ‘hebra’”), it’s unclear what the correct antecedent of the pronoun “it” in the subordinate clause is, and it’s also unclear what the correct antecedent of the possessive “latter’s” is. There’s a very simple fix to avoid this confusion, however, and it is to spin off that subordinate clause into a separate sentence, as follows: “This happened after
the stallion was placed inside
the zebra’s pen in the Manila Zoo, city zoo officials reported on Monday.” This time, the reader no longer has to rely on the fuzzy pronoun “it” and the equally fuzzy possessive “latter’s” to establish what’s being done to what and where in the original subordinate clause.
(4) Redundant wording of a verb phrase: In the second sentence, the wording of the verb phrase “remains to be in a ‘guarded’ situation” is redundant. The verb “remain” is one of a few English verbs that already subsumes the sense of “to be” (as do the verbs “stay” and “keep”), so “to be” is best dropped from that verb phrase for euphony and conciseness: “remains in a ‘guarded’ situation.”
(5) Misuse of a nonrestrictive relative clause as modifier: In the second paragraph, the noun form “several complications” is wrongly modified by the nonrestrictive relative clause “which might be brought about by mismatches of genes from two animals.” But that relative clause is integral to the nature of the “complications,” so it needs to be treated as a restrictive clause instead. This change can be effected by simply getting rid of the pair of commas that sets off that relative clause, then by replacing the relative pronoun “which” with “that”: “several complications
that might be brought about by mismatches of genes from
the two animals.”
(6) Wrong term for an animal’s young: In the third sentence (and again in the second sentence of the fourth paragraph), the newly born hebra is erroneously called a “fawn.” A “fawn,” however, is the term for a young deer; the young animal of the horse family is called a “foal.” There’s a big semantic difference between the two.
(7) Wrong tense of the verb: In the fourth paragraph, the use of the past-perfect tense “had happened” in the clause “a very rare occurrence had happened in Manila Zoo last week” is erroneous. Since the time of occurrence, “last week,” is given, the simple past tense should have been used: “a very rare occurrence happened in Manila Zoo last week.” Even if found in direct quotes, such basic grammar errors should be corrected as a matter of courtesy to the speaker.
(8 ) Erroneous form of the past perfect: Also in the fourth paragraph, the verb phrase “had finally
gave birth to a hebra” is in the wrong form of the past perfect. Even if that grammar error was part of a direct quote from the zoo official, it’s really bad that both the reporter and the deskperson had not caught and corrected it. Of course, main verbs in the past perfect should always be in the past-participle form, so “gave” should be corrected to “given”: “had finally
given birth to a hebra.”
(9) Wrong use of a noun’s singular form: The photo caption says that the week-old “hebra” flexes “its muscle.” We can be sure that the animal was flexing more than just one muscle in that flexing exercise, so that noun should properly be rendered in its plural form “muscles.”
Here then is that entire passage from the “hebra” story with all the needed corrections:
Zebra gives birth to ‘hebra’“It was a mismatch made in heaven.
“
A domesticated stallion, said to be isolated by other horses, found love with a herd of zebras and
sired an offspring called ‘hebra.’ This happened after the stallion was placed inside
the zebra’s pen in the Manila Zoo, city zoo officials reported on Monday.
“The newly born hebra or crossbreed of zebra and horse, however,
remains in a ‘guarded’ situation as the
foal might develop
several complications that might be brought about by mismatches of genes from the two animals, according to Manila Zoo division chief Dr. Donald Manalastas.
“‘
A very rare occurrence happened in Manila Zoo last week as our zebra
had finally given birth to a hebra. Though the
foal may look healthy and active now, we are still monitoring its health,’ Manalastas told the Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview.”
(Continued in the Reply)
