I’m almost certain the global economy did not collapse in 2008 because reporters for the Wall Street Journal confused contractions with possessive adjectives — although many contractions were clearly felt at the time. And far be it for me to suggest that literacy has ever played a role in corporate enterprise and all the accumulation of wealth that takeovers and mergers entail. However, I have noticed for some time that spelling and grammar in the on-line versions of established journals and newspapers such as the WSJ have deteriorated significantly. The title of Patrick McGroarty’s story on the Pistorius trial, “You’re Version’s a Lie,” jumped out at me today as another fine illustration of this trend.
Silly indeed, except that as a teacher I am routinely encouraging my students to read. It would be nice to know that when they do, they also take a cue on how to write properly.
P.S. I thought it was a perfect addition to this post that the Chicago Sun-Times reported today that about 30 Northwestern University journalism school diplomas misspelled the word “integrated.”
CHRISTOPHER NOWLIN 