No, no, and no.
One order of misplaced modifiers with fries, please! This headline suggests someone forced a team to delete photos that someone had taken while in the vicinity of an In-N-Out. That’s not what happened. Let’s fix: “California high school team forced by In-N-Out to delete viral photos.”
This headline writer “buried the lead.” Never start a news story — or a staff meeting for that matter — with the fact that you have a report. That’s a big “duh!” Tell people what the report says!!! “NTSB: Boeing 767 was coming in high and fast when it passed runway’s threshold before crashing.” And, of course, we reiterate our loathing of “released.”
Another chronic. Unless you do martial arts, good luck getting your foot up to a stomach, which is not near thebelly button but rather up on the chest. (See photo.) More likely, the deputy was kicked in his belly. Abdomen. Torso. Gut. Or maybe lower.
You squash a bug. You quash tropical activity.
Yes. These are wrong. But the Horribly Wrong team won’t touch them. They were in France. Where no one is under any obligation to do anything in English, grammatically correct or not. No one.
And we go to the video archives! Click for Segment 20: Its not that hard.
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong" features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police.” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, menus, TV news graphics, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we can credit you properly. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
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NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!