If you make three boneheaded errors at the beginning of a sentence, perhaps you should stop writing and correct your mistakes, rather than continue with the sentence.
But the writer for Yahoo! News‘ “The Sideshow” has another idea: He’s happy to make do with the limited skills he has. He doesn’t seem to mind that New Haven got shortchanged, that due isn’t what the police made, and that a semicolon isn’t a substitute for a comma.
Was the writer for Yahoo! Movies having a good laugh when writing about a movie that’s “to risque”? Personally, I think that’s too funny, as are the misspelling of Flintstones and the use of a comma where a semicolon belongs:
If you’re a phonetic speller, you might think this is how to spell Judy Blume. Oh, there’s that semicolon! Of course, it doesn’t belong here:
OK, so now I know the writer has a sense of humor. Maybe she meant court marshal? Or court jester, because this is kinda funny:
Ha-ha! No, it’s not the same “Jurassic Park” we knew and loved, it’s some crazed misspelling:
This 2-sentence excerpt comprises some common mistakes you’ll see on Yahoo! Movies:
There’s the misuse of comprised of, which should be comprises or consists of or something similar. Then there’s the use of twenty-six, which isn’t a mistake if that’s the house style. But, most style guides recommend using digits for numbers that are 10 or above. What’s not a matter of house style? The use of a semicolon, which should be a comma.
When it comes to language, style and punctuation, it appears that the writer had free rein.
Seeing mistakes every day on the Yahoo! front page, I ask myself: How did that happen? How did a mistake like this get past the proofreader?
How did this attempt at mortgage escape the spell-checker?
And why would a writer think you needed to capitalize the word following a semicolon?
And then I think, Oh, yeah. This Yahoo!. Nobody there cares about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or facts. And I go back to doing my Sudoku.
Unsure if a word should be capitalized? Just do what the writers for the Yahoo! front page do: Give it a capital letter! Who cares if it’s wrong to capitalize a common noun following a semicolon? After all, a semicolon is just a period with a comma underneath:
When should you capitalize ceremony? Anytime you want! Even though it’s wrong, it looks great and gives the word importance:
A word doesn’t automatically get capitalized because it follows a semicolon. That’s generally understood by writers — except over at the Yahoo! front page, where editors often capitalize common nouns and other words following a semicolon:
Oooops. I guess someone on Yahoo! front page forgot that you don’t capitalize a common noun following a semicolon:
If you’re looking for reliable information about the economy and finance, look no further than Yahoo! Finance‘s “The Daily Ticker.” You’ll just want to overlook the occasional minor gaffes, like the claim that OMB slashed the GDP growth, when it was the growth estimate that was slashed. And don’t pay any mind to the actual numbers, which don’t make sense:
Although the writer does not get high marks for her writing. Two-thirds of the errors in this paragraph involve using the wrong word. You may disapprove of how she has handled the language, but those are just quibbles:
No one interested in the current economy cares about punctuation; however, I prefer a semicolon before however and a comma after it. A repeated word is just there to make sure you econ newbies get the message:
Don’t think that because the writer can’t type simple words that she’s not competent at handling more complex subjects. And ignore the arbitrary capitalization of Politico — she’s not really shouting at you, she’s just a tad confused about the correct use of the Shift key here:
and here:
See? The writer’s totally dependable. It’s just her writing that’s a little suspect.
It seems that I can’t read anything on Yahoo! News‘ “The Ticket” without asking myself some questions. Like: Why capitalize a word following a semicolon?
Why would you hyphenate Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s name when the congresswoman doesn’t?
And finally, I ask the question: Who is the former Tim Pawlenty now?
Maybe the reporter for Yahoo! News‘ “The Lookout” forgot the rules for punctuation that she learned in fifth grade. That could explain why she used a semicolon instead of a comma in this headline:
Maybe she forgot to proofread this sentence to see if there are any missing words:
Clearly she did not remember how to form the correct tense of a verb:
Now I’m confused. In this article about a woman who lost her memory, did the writer forget the subject’s gender? Or did the woman undergo a sex change operation?
