Jose Carillo's English Forum

English Grammar and Usage Problems => Badly Written, Badly Spoken => Topic started by: Miss Mae on October 27, 2011, 05:40:44 PM

Title: Bomb claims one life, wounds 6 in Zamboanga City
Post by: Miss Mae on October 27, 2011, 05:40:44 PM

Seven civilians were hit by an improvised explosive device that detonated somewhere in Zamboanga City yesterday.

One was killed and six were injured.

Is it right to compound this unfortunate incident by describing the suspect as yet-unidentified?

Title: Re: Bomb claims one life, wounds 6 in Zamboanga City
Post by: Joe Carillo on October 28, 2011, 12:02:48 AM

You asked, "Is it right to compound this unfortunate incident by describing the suspect as yet-unidentified?"

By definition, a "suspect" is a person believed to have committed a particular crime. Someone, even if not yet identified by name, can be considered a suspect if he or she has already been described by a credible eyewitness as the perpetrator of that crime.

Now, in a news report, describing the suspect as "yet-unidentified" isn't wrong if it's clear that considerable effort over several days or weeks has already been undertaken to identify him or her. The "yet" is uncalled for and must be dropped if no formal intensive effort to identify the suspect has started because the incident has just happened, as in a bomb explosion that happened only the day before; in short, describing the suspect for a very recent crime as "unidentified" is enough.

Title: Re: Bomb claims one life, wounds 6 in Zamboanga City
Post by: Miss Mae on October 29, 2011, 02:43:31 PM

Thank you, Sir!