tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post3907661305581289798..comments2024-02-19T07:51:46.118-05:00Comments on Throw Grammar from the Train: Six times more ambiguous Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173219179480606941noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-88467603025936131692016-04-06T16:49:36.597-04:002016-04-06T16:49:36.597-04:00Hear hear, Jan.Hear hear, Jan.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04323568112711824064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-49613177684943869802016-04-03T08:39:58.348-04:002016-04-03T08:39:58.348-04:00I read the correction the way John Cowan did; it w...I read the correction the way John Cowan did; it was meant to clear up that simply being someone who texts is not what increases your chance of having an accident. You have to do it while you're driving. I have never seen a correction for a purely grammatical mistake.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14610532737355808614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-89007498081728720972016-03-24T06:14:39.873-04:002016-03-24T06:14:39.873-04:00In fact, I would almost go so far as to say that &...In fact, I would almost go so far as to say that "drivers who text while driving" is a redundant.<br /><br />Unless you're talking about someone who drives for a living or who identifies primarily as a driver, such as a taxi driver or a race car driver, then "driver" is typically going to refer to someone <i>in the act</i> of driving. You and I may drive, but no one is going to refer to us as "drivers" when we're home in bed or sitting on the couch eating cookies. It's not a significant enough part of our identity for anyone to refer to us as "drivers" unless they're talking about us driving in the same statement. That doesn't really need to be stipulated explicitly. You're never, ever, ever going to see an article saying, "A recent study reveals that 99% of drivers like to sing in the shower." Never going to happen. When an article says "drivers" it's clear that we're dealing with people behind the wheel, not just people who happen to have driver's licenses in their wallets while they stroll around the zoo or sit in a restaurant eating soup.Bryan Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607046468663026271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-82286656330643953042016-03-24T05:46:31.463-04:002016-03-24T05:46:31.463-04:00@John Cowan: My guess would be that they were simp...@John Cowan: My guess would be that they were simply shortening the original passage when they alluded to it there at the end. It's quite possible, and I believe even probable, that the original also stipulated "while driving" as well, but the writer of the correction might have felt that including it there would have seemed stilted, awkward, and distracting from the point they were making.<br /><br />If that had been the focus of the correction, I think they would have made that clear in the second sentence. Perhaps something like:<br /><br />"A Business News article Saturday about driver-monitoring systems mentioned this statistic without stipulating that it concerned drivers who texted <i>while driving</i>."<br /><br />And honestly, if someone felt that it wasn't clear that the drivers who text were driving, given that texting while driving is a well known issue and given that the context is CRASH STATSITICS, I think it would be an even more pedantic complaint than the one Jan addresses.<br /><br />I would pretty much bet the house that it's the "more" and "as" issue.Bryan Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607046468663026271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-77696474340680424702016-03-23T17:45:16.033-04:002016-03-23T17:45:16.033-04:00I take the correction to be from "driver who ...I take the correction to be from "driver who texts" to "driver who texts while driving". Many people both drive and text, but the story is about those who do both at the same time.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.com