My young-YA/middle-grade fantasy Fireboy, a nominee for Best Young Adult Novel in this year’s Aurora Awards, is also a finalist for the 2027 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award in the Northern Lights Division. This is …
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m up for two Aurora Awards this year! Fireboy is on the ballot for Best Young Adult Novel, and The Worldshapers is once again on the ballot for Best Fan …
I spent a good chunk of today at Wordbridge, the annual writers’ conference in Lethbridge, Alberta. My main reason for coming was to launch a Shadowpaw Press title (Broken Realm by Jenna Greene, a Lethbridge …
This is Easter weekend; last weekend, I sang in the Easter concert of First Baptist Church here in Regina as a guest soloist and chorister. The whole concert is worth listening to, but if you’d …
I put a link to this in the previous post on my Aurora-eligible work for 2025, but wanted to highlight it. This was my contribution to the Shapers of Worlds Volume V anthology, and it …
The Aurora Awards are Canada’s best-known science fiction and fantasy awards, voted on by fans every year. I’ve been fortunate enough to win twice, for Marseguro (DAW Books) (soon coming out in a new edition from Tuscany …
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It just ain’t good English
I get very tired of seeing this particular grammatical error, from an ABC story: “After receiving a friendly reception at the church, more than 100 demonstrators chanted ‘Down with Bush’ from behind barricades a block away from the D-Day Museum, where Bush attended a fund-raiser.”
This says, of course, that the demonstrators received a friendly reception at the church before going on to chant anti-Bush slogans, rather than that Bush received a friendly reception at the church before going on to be chanted at.
Editors! Do your jobs!
End rant.
Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2004/01/it-just-aint-good-english/
1 comment
Edward,
Asking editors to “Do your job!” won’t get much action in many publications’ offices. They’ve gotten rid of the editors. Many pubs now demand what we used to call “camera ready” manuscripts. Even if there IS an editor on premises, he or she may not be any more aware of grammar rules than the writers.
Hal Swift
Long-time broadcaster, never retired,
but often quit, and sometimes fired.
hal_swift@yahoo.com