The Penguin Guide to Plain English

In a survey of i oo wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest a majority are

beginning to suffer from eutrophication.
This is like saying o f a history book The funeral o f King Edward VII
takes place in chapter seven. The wetland sites are not suffering from
eutrophication in the survey any m ore than King Edward VII is interred
in the history book. The survey and the developments it reports are two
different matters. All that is needed to correct this error is the insertion
o f a simple parenthetical expression such as w e learn that or it is
revealed that after the w ord Interest. But even that need could have
been obviated if the w riter had not begun the sentence w ith the w ord
In: A survey o f 100 wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest reveals
that a majority are beginning to suffer from eutrophication.
It is not only in accounts of books and in official reports that we find
this error. The w ord new s is misused in similar fashion on the radio.
We hear from the commercial w orld that a certain rather questionable
financial deal, involving huge profits for the fat cats, has just been agreed.
Then we are told that The Shadow Chancellor has condem ned the new s.
Clearly it is not the publicization o f the facts ( the new s) that angered
the politician, but the facts recorded. After another such announcem ent
of a possible scandal, the BBC reporter tells us The news is part of a
continuing investigation - w hich it plainly is not. The investigation is
one thing, the news o f the scandal another thing.
Confusion between statement and fact, between words and w hat they
convey, lies behind many such errors. In the extreme case we read this
on the subject o f stag-hunting:
Words such as biodiversity and Agenda 2 1 Local Plans are the way forward.
No one is likely to defend this as a justifiable verbal short cut. If the writer
means that biodiversity should be encouraged, then he should talk
about it and not about the w ord. Clearly to recom m end certain w ords
as a way forw ard is not going to get anyone very far.

Keeping Connotation Intact

A peculiar form o f misusing a single w ord occurs sometimes w hen a
w ord is made to do duty in two different ways in the same sentence. The
error can turn up in accounts o f football matches.