Perhaps the writer is not a native English speaker. Some of the errors seem consistent with those typically made by well-educated non-native speakers of English (e.g., international university students).

The other possibility is that he was in such an emotional state that he wrote the letter quickly and carelessly. He may have then sent it off without proofreading it because he just wanted to be done with the matter.



Tabetha Bernstein-Danis

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry



-----Original Message-----

From: Robert Yates <[log in to unmask]>



Date:         Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:09:42 

To: <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Surface grammar errors





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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