Then=Time, Than=Compare

Is it so difficult to learn that the word "then" implies a time, while the word "than" is used when doing a comparison? I wonder where the writers from the GoBlueWolverine.com site were trained? Bad grammar in a sports article doesn't help to remove the stigma that our society has placed on education in athletic programs. Such poor writing only substantiates the public's view of sports.



So Soon?

Today's examples are already booming! Rasta, a good friend of mine, encountered an example of poor writing in the media, this time at Alabama's ABC 33/40 website. She said, "The author has put double periods at the end of two sentences and in the quote from Doug Horst, she left out the letter "r" in the word "closer." Re-reading this would have caught the error." Thanks, Rasta!

The Beginning

Here is the pilot post for this blog. I found this example on Denver's 9news.com site. The truly funny thing about this article is that the link at the bottom has the phrase correct and the holiday capitalized. Many articles written for 9News are so poorly written that I find it amazing when the intended meaning of the message is still understandable.

I found three obvious errors in the article:
  • The word "tounge" should be "tongue"
  • The phrase "tounge and cheek" should be "tongue-in-cheek" (again, fixing the spelling)
  • Holiday names should always be capitalized, but the author has written "thanksgiving"
Can you find more?


About Ren

I have finally become so incensed by poor writing in the media that I've decided to create a blog detailing the errors that I find. Perhaps journalists will think about proofreading their work if they don't want to find themselves on here. If you see any examples, please e-mail them to me at r.tauman [at] gmail.com.

I don't expect the average person to be able to write well, but those who write for the public should at least know what they are doing.