Verbs

“… when the couple said a guy went up to them …”

Common English Blunders, Verbs

I heard this on Fox26 local news yesterday morning.

Problem:
The verb “went” is inappropriate here.

Explanation:
Mixing up “came” and “went” is a common English blunder.

  • The verb “to come” implies that someone or something is approaching the speaker or writer.
  • The verb “to go” implies that someone or something is moving away from the speaker or writer.

The TV anchor on Houston’s Fox26 news was acting as a journalist who was reporting what a couple said.

In this case, the journalist indirectly quoted what the couple said.

Assuming that a journalist should not impose bad grammar on anyone, especially in an indirect quotation, we can infer that the direct quotation would be this grammatically correct form:

  • “… when,” the couple said, “a guy came up to us …”

In contrast, here is the grammatically incorrect form of a direct quotation:

  • “… when,” the couple said, “a guy went up to us …”

The reason that changing “came” to “went” would make the direct quotation grammatically incorrect is that the two people are recounting their experience at the time of the approach by “a guy”, and at the time of the approach — from their perspective of being in the location that the guy was approaching — the guy “came” to them, not “went” to them.

Converting the grammatically correct form of the direct quotation back to the indirect quotation, we get the solution.

Solution:
“… when the couple said a guy came up to them …”

“Authorizations will be expired on March 31.”

Verbs

This is a simplification of what I saw yesterday in an email message from a corporation.

Problem:
The transitive form of the verb “expire” is misused here.

Explanation:
Converting this statement from passive voice to active voice, we get the statement “We will expire authorizations on March 31.”

It’s clear in active voice that the statement is using the verb “expire” in transitive form. That is, “expire” takes the direct object “authorizations”.

There is only one non-archaic definition of the transitive form of the verb “expire”: to breathe out.

The statement “She expired one liter of CO2-rich air after holding her breath for a minute.” is a grammatically correct example that uses the transitive form of the verb “expire”.

So it should be clear that the corporation that sent the email message cannot “breathe out” the authorizations.

The corporation wanted to say that the authorizations would come to an end on March 31.

This requires the intransitive form of the verb “expire” (one used without an object), a definition of which is to terminate or come to an end.

Solution:
“Authorizations will expire on March 31.”

“We have slows in the area.”

Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Verbs

I heard a traffic reporter say this on a local TV news program the other morning.

Problem:
The word “slows” is not a noun.

Explanation:
“We have X in the area.” requires that “X” be a noun.

The word “slows” is not a noun.

I suppose that the traffic reporter was trying to be clever or was just lazy.

It seems that she was trying to use “slows” as a substitute for “slow traffic” (given what she covers — automotive traffic on local roads).

I believe that this use of “slows” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say “slows” than “slow traffic” (one syllable vs. three syllables).

Solution:
“We have slow traffic in the area.”