With only one hyphen too many, this sentence on the Yahoo! front page isn’t really heavily punctuated; it’s just wrong:
A hyphen that joins an adverb ending in -LY (like heavily) with the adjective it modifies (like inked) is completely unnecessary. The -LY suffix is the signal to the reader that the adverb modifies the word that follows it.
In what is likely to be the worst bit of writing from a Yahoo! News staffer — and possibly the year’s worst writing by a professional anywhere — I feel silly pointing out the missing hyphen in high-profile. It’s the other errors that are egregious and a disgrace to Yahoo! and the writing profession.
It starts with the writer’s allegation that there was a trial on (yes, the writer said on) actual priest molesters:
Let’s be clear: No actual priests were molested. There was, however, a trial of priests accused of molestation.
But wait, there’s more! There’s a football couch (which is where you sit to watch football if someone has already staked out the recliner) and it’s called Joe Paterno:
And there’s still more! The “writer” should have removed of and paid more attention to the child development center. I don’t think we needed to be told that the football program was stripped of football victories. And we certainly didn’t need the out-and-out lies about Jerry Sandusky’s denials throughout the trial (he never spoke or testified during the trial) and his sentence (he faced a maximum of 442 years, but was sentenced to 60):
I don’t know who wrote this pile of crap. The article has no byline. Smart move.
Amanda Seyfried attended the world premiere of “Les Miserables.” But the crackerjack writer at Yahoo! Movies was watching someone with a slightly different name:
