Thursday, February 21, 2008 The Grammar Cop By Jess Saplala
A YOUNG senator’s political statement quoted verbatim (word for word) by a regional newspaper caught this sleepy cop’s attention.
Wrong: “One of the factors that seem to be on Noli’s (Vice President de Castro’s) side is his loyalty to the administration in the last five years. That explains why some members of the party are pushing for his endorsement.”
Right: “One of the factors that seem to be on Noli’s...side has been his loyalty...in the last five years. That is why some party members are endorsing his candidacy.”
The Law: The present perfect (has been) is the correct tense to describe the Vice President’s continuing loyalty, which began five years ago. “That explains why” is redundant. “Members of the party” is wordy.
“Pushing for his endorsement” is a tricky case of malapropism (ludicrous misuse of a word or words). The idiom “pushing for” means “endorsing.”
“Endorsing his endorsement”—which is what the last part of the quoted statement literally means—qualifies as ludicrous misuse of words.
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Word-watching: Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which opposing, illogical and incongruous words or terms are combined, i.e., deafening silence, mournful optimist, sweet sorrow, sweet sour, etc. (A pretty lady asks if “happy marriage” is an oxymoron. Umm...no comment.)
