CR will again take the reigns of the wide-open Trojan attack at quarterback.

 Whoops #1: REIGN is a noun or verb that refers to exercising sovreign power over a country, as a king or queen would do. I doubt CR plans to rule over the football team like a king.  More likely, CR will take the REINS (leather straps attached to a bit so a rider or driver can guide a horse) and guide his team to victory.  This sentence should read:

CR will again take the reins of the wide-open Trojan attack at quarterback.

 Another Glitch appears in the same paragraph:

The offensive coordinator is determined to compliment Troy's air assault with a solid dose of hard-nosed running.

 Whoops #2: The word COMPLIMENT (with an I) means to offer praise to someone.  I doubt the coordinator would offer praise by delivering A DOSE OF HARD-NOSED RUNNING.  The word COMPLEMENT (with an E) means to supplement or balance one thing with another.  More likely, the coordinator wants to balance the air assault with the hard-nosed running.  Therefore, the sentence should read this way:

The offensive coordinator is determined to complement Troy's air assault with a solid dose of hard-nosed running.

 

Here is my first comment after reading the "Sports" page of The Messenger. This newspaper is published five days a week in Troy, Alabama, and has been providing news in that area for more than 125 years.

Verb tense is important for accurate meaning. Here is a sentence from an article in The Messenger about a recent golf tournament:

After winning their first tournament of the spring season at the Lady Eagle Invitational on March 13, the Troy women's golf team has brought home its second tournament win on Tuesday, April 10.

The past tense (BROUGHT) should be used for events that began in the past and ended in the past. Because this issue of the newspaper was printed on April 12, the second tournament victory on April 10 ended before the newspaper was printed.  The present perfect tense (HAS BROUGHT) should only be used for events that began in the past but are ongoing.  The season may be ongoing, but the second tournament win ended on April 10. Therefore, the sentence should read this way:

After winning their first tournament of the spring season at the Lady Eagle Invitational on March 13, the Troy women's golf team brought home its second tournament win on Tuesday, April 10.

In another article on the same page, two sentences caught my eye because of awkward wording.  Here is the first one:

For many, being struck with a line drive in the face would slow the desire to return to the pitching circle.

   A good writer groups   phrases in ways that make reading easy to follow.  In this sentence, IN THE FACE ought to come after STRUCK for clear meaning.  It should read this way:

For many, being struck in the face with a line drive would slow the desire to return to the pitching circle.

 

A few lines later, I came across this sentence:

The batted ball stuck (the girl) in the face breaking a bone near her eye as well as her nose.

This sentence has several problems.  First, the ball STRUCK the girl.  I doubt it actually STUCK to her face. Second, it is usually a good idea to place a comma before an ING phrase that comes after the noun it describes. Third, as written, this sentence makes it sound as if the bone that was broken was near HER EYE AS WELL AS HER NOSE.  Actually, her nose was broken, along with a bone near her eye.  The sentence should read this way:

The batted ball struck (the girl) in the face, breaking her nose as well as a bone near her eye .

I am happy to report that the young lady in this story is now healthy and back on the pitching mound for her school.

The difficulties of the team's mission was clear Wednesday during its visit to the suburb of Arbeen, just northeast of Damascus.

The subject of this sentence is DIFFICULTIES (plural), not MISSION (singular). Therefore, the verb should be WERE (plural), not WAS (singular). The sentence should read this way:

The difficulties of the team's mission were clear Wednesday during its visit to the suburb of Arbeen, just northeast of Damascus.

Two medical advertisements caught my eye this week because they did not use proper subject/verb agreement.  Take a look at the first one at right.

YOU is one person.  SOMEONE is also considered singular.  They are connected by OR.  Therefore, the verb should be IS. The caption should read this way:

If you or someone you know is having the following problems:

Here is the second ad statement:

The subject verb combination must be either SUFFERERS SAY (plural) or SUFFERER SAYS (singular). In this case, the rest of the statement refers to HER and HER FOOT AND LEG PAIN, so we need the singular version. This ad statement should read as follows:

"Former Peripheral Neuropathy Sufferer Says FREE REPORT Showed Her How to End Her Foot and Leg Pain Naturally and Quickly."

A  Canadian investment firm and entrepreneur  have acquired Eastwood Festival Centre and intend to add a police sub-station to the shopping center, as well as making other changes.

One thing or another has to be incorrect in this sentence. The verb is HAVE, which suggests that the subject is two separate entities (one CANADIAN INVESTMENT FIRM and one ENTREPRENEUR). However, if that is the case, the word AN should appear before ENTREPRENEUR, and it does not. As written, it sounds as if one entity–A CANADIAN INVESTMENT FIRM that is also an ENTREPRENEUR–HAS ACQUIRED the shopping center.

When I read the first paragraph of the article, it became clear that two entities are involved in the project. One is a CANADIAN INVESTMENT FIRM, and the other is an ENTREPRENEUR.  Therefore, the verb HAVE is correct, but the second entity requires its own article, AN.

I was also bothered by the lack of parallel structure between TO ADD in reference to the POLICE SUB-STATION and MAKING in reference to OTHER CHANGES.

In addition, I do not use a comma before AS WELL AS in the phrasing of a sentence.

Here is my suggested rewrite for this caption:

A Canadian investment firm and an entrepreneur have acquired Eastwood Festival Centre and intend to make changes to the shopping center, including the addition of a police sub-station.

 

A WORD OF WELCOME TO ALL THOSE TAKING MY ADVANCED BUSINESS WRITING WORKSHOPS DURING APRIL AND MAY.  I HOPE YOU WILL VISIT GRAMMAR GLITCH CENTRAL OFTEN.  PLEASE USE THE COMMENT SECTION FOR QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIIONS.  YOU CAN ALSO INDICATE IF YOU WISH TO SIGN UP FOR EMAIL NOTIFICATION OF FUTURE POSTS.

Here is another one that appeared incorrectly as part of a headline in this morning's Birmingham News.

State superintendent emphasizes action is to probe, not takeover

 

 TO PROBE is an infinitive created by putting TO in front of the present tense form of the verb.  The second verb should be TAKE followed by the separate adverb OVER. For good parallel structure, TO should also be part of what comes after NOT.  The headline should read this way: 

State superintendent emphasizes action is to probe, not to take over

 

 I hope Birmingham Board of Education members can put aside their personal agendas and work with Alabama's new state superintendent to improve the climate for education in our state's largest city. The children of Birmingham deserve that.

A good peeler needs a blade that is just as effective on tender foods as well as those that are tough-skinned.

The intended comparison is worded awkwardly. When you use the phrase AS WELL AS, it is not necessary to use the word AS again.  There are two ways to improve this sentence:

A good peeler needs a blade that is effective on tender foods as well as tough-skinned ones.

A good peeler needs a blade that is just as effective on tender foods as it is on those that are tough-skinned.

Here are some additional examples of AS WELL AS used correctly:

I like rutabagas as well as I do turnips.

The entertainment will include jugglers as well as acrobats.

Anne Marie danced as well as she could in spite of her sprained ankle.

 

Unfortunately, Faulk forgot the difference between LIE and LAY when he wrote the article.  Here are two sentences from the same paragraph:

After the procedure Dr. DeGuenther said he asks the man to go home and lay flat on his back the rest of the day and only get up to go to the bathroom or dinner table.

That first night is the only time they are confined to laying on the couch or the bed, but they still must only have light activity for the next two days after the first day.

Whoops! The word LAY (LAY, LAID, LAID) is used to describe the action of putting or placing something, as in LAYING an egg or LAYING sod for a new lawn. LAY takes an object. The word LIE (LIE, LAY, LAIN)  is used to describe the act of reclining. It does not take an object.  I would also move the word ONLY so that it describes the LIGHT ACTIVITY rather than coming between MUST and HAVE. These two sentences should read as follows:

After the procedure Dr. DeGuenther said he asks the man to go home and lie flat on his back the rest of the day and only get up to go to the bathroom or dinner table.

That first night is the only time they are confined to lying on the couch or the bed, but they still must have only light activity for the next two days after the first day.

Later in the same article, Faulk used this sentence:

Smith, who works for an insurance company that sell annuities to stock brokers, said he and his wife recently had their third child.

Whoops again! The verb SELL (plural) should agree with COMPANY (singular). The sentence should read this way:

Smith, who works for an insurance company that sells annuities to stock brokers, said he and his wife recently had their third child.

 

 A NOTE OF WELCOME to those attending my "Essentials of Business Writing" workshops in Montgomery this week. You have asked great questions and offered many good examples of business writing issues. I hope you will visit Grammar Glitch Central often and continue to share your comments and questions.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office is looking for anyone who might have fallen victim to a mortgage and real estate fraud scheme after arresting a Hoover man Thursday in connection to the   case.  

 As written, this sentence makes it sound as if those who were victims of the fraud did the arresting. One way to correct this is to move the "arrest phrase" to the beginning of the sentence:

After arresting a Hoover man Thursday in connection with a   case of mortgage and real estate fraud,   t h e Shelby County Sheriff's Office is looking for anyone who might have fallen victim to the scheme.

Because journalists seem hesitatant to begin sentences with introductory phrases, I will offer a second solution:

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office has arrested a Hoover man in connection with a mortgage and real estate fraud scheme.  They are looking for anyone who might have fallen victim to this fraud.

 

Birmingham city school officials will get results from mercury tests it conducted Friday on Putnam Middle School students and faculty in about a week, but don't expect to find anything problematic after a spill shut down the school this week.

Oh my! Where do I begin to correct this? First, the pronoun IT is not clear.  What does it refer to?  If the BIRMINGHAM CITY SCHOOL OFFICIALS (plural and human) are going to get the mercury test results, then it seems logical that THEY (not IT) conducted those tests.

Second, the phrase IN ABOUT A WEEK is way out of place in this sentence. It needs to be much closer to what it refers to, which is the MERCURY TESTS. 

Third, as worded, this sentence makes it sound as if the verb phrase DON'T EXPECT is directed as a command or imperative to the reader, but I think the reporter meant to suggest that those Birmingham school officials at the beginning of the sentence are the ones who DON'T EXPECT to find anything problematic.  The simple fix for this is to use the pronoun THEY a second time to refer back to the officials.

Fourth, I think the information in this sentence should be reversed, putting the expectations of the officials before the BUT.

Here is my suggested rewording:

Birmingham city school officials don't expect to find anything problematic after a spill shut down Putnam Middle School this week, but they will get results in about seven days from mercury tests conducted Friday on students and faculty.

A NOTE OF WELCOME to new readers from my Grammar and Usage workshops in Mobile and Montgomery this week.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions, and don't forget to use the Search slot on the Home Page to find other blog posts that interest you.