Media: Re: Lehrer News Hour 8/27/02
| Submitter: |
Suzette Haden Elgin
|
| Submitter Email: | ocls@madisoncounty.net |
| Media Body: |
August 28, 2002 I watched with dismay last night as a complete segment ran on PBS's "Lehrer News Hour" on the topic of the current news-reporter register for American English. Over and over again, examples of sentences "without verbs" were presented and discussed, despite the fact tha they had verbs galore. It was clear from the beginning that the phenomenon for discussion was sentences without _copulas_, no sentences without verbs, but everyone participating went on and on about the way all the "verbs" were being left out. If the level of scientific accuracy for this segment is typical for the show -- something I would not have expected -- then viewers need to be very dubious about segments on physics and astronomy and all the rest. Suzette Haden Elgin </body> |
| Issue Number: | 13.2195 |
| Date Posted: | August 29, 2002 |
