https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52150388
I have a problem with this ...
'A day at the seaside or a week in your holiday home are NOT essential travel'
Thoughts ? Looks odd to me, that 'are'...
Banner grammar
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- Lemon Half
- Posts: 7479
- Joined: November 4th, 2016, 6:11 pm
Re: Banner grammar
I agree, but I would dodge the issue by rearranging it 'It is NOT essential to travel for a day at the seaside or a week in your holiday home'.
Scott.
Scott.
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- Lemon Half
- Posts: 7157
- Joined: November 8th, 2016, 2:30 pm
Re: Banner grammar
Or, more succinctly:
'A day at the seaside or a week in your holiday home are NOT considered to be essential travel'.
Or "do (or does) not count as essential travel". Even the red-top readers should be able to get the hang of that.
BJ
'A day at the seaside or a week in your holiday home are NOT considered to be essential travel'.
Or "do (or does) not count as essential travel". Even the red-top readers should be able to get the hang of that.
BJ
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- 2 Lemon pips
- Posts: 186
- Joined: February 15th, 2017, 5:49 pm
Re: Banner grammar
Actually I think it's the "or" that's the issue. It should be an "and" - "X and Y are Z". "X or Y are Z" doesn't sound right at all.
With the "and", though, it's not entirely clear what the negation applies to - does "X and Y are not Z" mean that "X is not Z, and Y is also not Z" or "X and Y together are not Z (but X or Y on their own may be)". It's similar to the issue with inclusive and exclusive "or" - does "You must do A or B" mean "choose only one" or "do at least one"?
I agree that re-wording the sentence is the best idea, but if you want to keep as close as possible to the original, "Neither a day at the seaside nor a week in your holiday home are essential travel". Of course you lose the emphasised "NOT" in this version.
With the "and", though, it's not entirely clear what the negation applies to - does "X and Y are not Z" mean that "X is not Z, and Y is also not Z" or "X and Y together are not Z (but X or Y on their own may be)". It's similar to the issue with inclusive and exclusive "or" - does "You must do A or B" mean "choose only one" or "do at least one"?
I agree that re-wording the sentence is the best idea, but if you want to keep as close as possible to the original, "Neither a day at the seaside nor a week in your holiday home are essential travel". Of course you lose the emphasised "NOT" in this version.