I had the same reaction to the [sic]- barrage, and am baffled about the paper's possible motivations. The reporter could be new to the business, but who would put a neophyte on a story like this one? -- Bill Spruiell
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Dick Veit
Sent: Fri 6/19/2009 1:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Surface grammar errors
The paper's excessive use of *sic *is disturbing. In *Writing, Reading, and
Research* (eighth edition in press)*,* I caution students to use *sic* with
an error "only if you feel it necessary to identify it as your source's
error, not your error in copying the passage... This device should be used
only rarely. Avoid using *sic* to belittle a source with whom you disagree."
Papers typically correct minor errors in letters without fuss and transform
some expressions (such as *US* to *U.S.*) to conform with their own style
guidelines. Inserting *sic *a dozen or more times into the letter
gratuitously embarrasses the writer and completely distracts the reader from
his message.
Dick Veit
On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:09 AM, Robert Yates <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear colleagues,
>
> Today, the Las Vegas Sun reproduced a letter written by the husband of
> the wife with whom Senator Ensign was having an affair. The husband
> sent the letter to a reporter at Fox News.
>
> The entire letter is here:
> http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/19/text-husbands-letter/
>
> There are all kinds of reasons to find the letter interesting, but I'm
> struck by the number of sic's. The Sun notes it did not correct any of
> the grammar and spelling. I assume the letter was proofread and the
> writer is a college graduate. Here are some examples from the letter:
>
> . . .
>
> The unethical behavior and immoral choice of Senator Ensign has been
> confronted by me and others on a number of occasions over this past
> year. In fact one of the confrontations took place in February 2008 at
> his home in Washington DC (sic) with a group of his peers. One of the
> attendee's (sic) was Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma as well as several
> other men who are close to the Senator.
>
> . . . .
>
> Today, Senator Ensign's responsibility and stature have increased within
> the US (sic) Senate. His is currently the head of "Policy" for the
> Republican Party, the number four position within the Parties (sic)
> leadership team. We on the other hand are completely ruined and left to
> deal with the aftermath of very evil and completely unjustifiable acts
> by one of our countries (sic) top leaders.
>
> *****
>
> It looks to me that the good people at the Sun expect US Senate to be
> U.S. Senate. I'm struck by the green grocer 's and the plural for the
> apostrophe.
>
> OK, we should not be just in the business of teaching surface grammar
> error, but the number of such errors in a very important document
> written by someone with a college education is interesting.
>
> Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri
>
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