June 4, 2014 at 12:26 am
#808969
metrognome
Participant
my favorite peeve this week, with the coverage of the Bergdahl swap, is the use of ‘was’ and ‘former’ in the same sentence by alleged ‘news’ organizations. For example, ‘Sen. John McCain, who was a former P.O.W…’ DOH! ‘Was’ means ‘formerly’; the only way the above sentence is accurate is if McCain is once again a P.O.W. He either ‘is a former P.O.W.’ or he ‘was a P.O.W.’
And don’t get me started on past pluperfect split infinitives because I have no idea what they are.