Syntax corner
Posted on February 9th, 2010 by James Higham
How should this statement have been worded?
MPs at the centre of the expense claims scandal have been warned not to use Parliamentary privilege to avoid court proceedings by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg.
One answer, if it’s correct syntax you be wantin’ [highlight below]:
MPs at the centre of the expense claims scandal have been warned by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, not to use Parliamentary privilege to avoid court proceedings.
Of course, there may be, in the statement, issues at stake other than grammar and word usage.
Filed under: Life issues & people
or better still turn it from passive to active?
Nick Clegg… has warned… and so on
“MPs at the centre of the expenses-claims [they made claims for expenses they shouldn't have, not 'expense'; hypenated where two nouns form an adjectival phrase] scandal have been warned by the leader [no need for capital 'L' in 'leader'] of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, not to use parliamentary [no need for the capital on 'Parliamentary' here] privilege to avoid court proceedings.”
Pass.
All sound advice. Britologywatch – that is so and falls into the category of vocabulary, word-usage and grammar, whereas I only looked at the syntax.