I’m sure, Jez, that that is the reason for the mistake, now widespread. It’s
also probably rooted in the fear (of radio producers) that someone will start
listening to such a report halfway through the sentence and draw that
conclusion. But it’s still wrong, and if we had taught our language properly
in schools over the last 30 years we would not be in this fix. And it is a
fix: our teachers apparently cannot teach English grammar, partly because they
know little themselves, partly because common usage has drifted from Standard
English and now makes rules hard to learn, let alone teach.
Chris
On 5 Jan 2014, at 16:03, Jez Cunningham <jez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 'Trouble is, when you write "The Prime Minister reported that he was keen
> to preserve the State Pension." it's all too easy to infer that now he is
> no longer keen so to do.
> Innit?
--
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