OK, yes, I have a print news bias. Still, I feel fine saying that broadcast news is loaded with clichés. Here’s your chance to tell me which ones bother you and what you’d like to hear instead.
I’ll start with mine.
A phrase I’ve heard a lot lately in interviews is to unpack.
Can you unpack this matter for us?
Sorry, I didn’t bring a suitcase.
Candidates usually boast about major endorsements. How embarrassing for anyone whose action is called a minor or inconsequential endorsement.
You know you’ve heard of a person or two being thrown under the bus. This ignoble practice is when you are the cause of a big problem, but you find another person to blame. Of course you don’t literally heave the other person under a bus, but the person might feel pretty battered anyway. I think it’s OK to say, Person A said Person B was to blame, and everyone knows Person A is the true culprit. Or maybe something a little shorter.
How about the committee that shines a light on one problem or another? I hear LED lights are the best ones to use. Why can’t the committee simply reveal, detail or focus on the problem?
Meteorologists love to mention weather events. Why can’t they just be weather?
It’s amazing how many things in the news are closely watched. But otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be on the news.
Some people being interviewed will respond with, “That’s a great question.” Well, I should hope so.
How many times have you heard an answer beginning with, “At the end of the day”? Much of the time, the answer would be just as comprehensible without that phrase.
The fancier legislators apparently craft legislation. I’m not sure whether they use porcelain, earthenware or what to do so. I guess the simpler legislators simply write legislation.
I keep hearing about a person in a four-year stint as council member. How about just saying he or she has been on the council or has been a council member for four years?
And this is about a real broadcast, not the news. One senator recently used irregardless, which I’ve written about before as my mother’s No. 1 pet peeve. Thank goodness she wasn’t here to hear it.
Now it’s your turn. Let me hear the news phrases you dislike and what you’d replace them with. I’ll continue listening for more on TV, too.
GET RIGHT TO THE SUBJECT
I have a strangely visceral reaction when I see sentences or parts of sentences that start with “it is.”
I instantly try to change the sentence to make it more direct. Using it makes the subject of the sentence hazier. It also adds a few unneeded words to a sentence.
Here are examples from The Washington Post and my improvements:
Before: The EPA administrator is allowed to waive the requirement on a case-by-case basis, but it is possible that outside groups could challenge those waivers in court.
After: The EPA administrator is allowed to waive the requirement on a case-by-case basis, but outside groups might challenge those waivers in court.
Before: It is likely that both great vigilance and some social distancing will still be needed, particularly if the population is not nearly all vaccinated.
After: Great vigilance and some social distancing likely will still be needed, particularly if the population is not nearly all vaccinated.
And one example from my head:
Before: It’s the tone that makes all the difference in an apology.
After: The tone makes all the difference in an apology.
Not everyone feels as strongly as I do about this. One source says the longer version is just as correct but acknowledges that a shorter sentence can be better. It uses this sentence to explain: It is John who ate the last piece of cake.
The main subject is “it,” the main verb is “is.” The “Oxford English Grammar” calls this “the cleft it,” in which “the sentence is split to put the focus on some part of it.”
Compare that sentence with the simpler “John ate the last piece of cake” and you can see how “it is John” adds a different emphasis. But that emphasis comes at a price: extra words and the loss of vividness you get every time you replace a tangible subject and action-oriented verb like “John ate” with more the abstract “it is.”
I also regularly change sentences starting with there is or there are.
I prefer to give more information to the reader when I can. Some more examples from The Post:
Before: There is compelling evidence that covid-19 will have long-term effects on the brains and nervous systems of survivors as they age.
After: Researchers have compelling evidence that covid-19 will have long-term effects on the brains and nervous systems of survivors as they age.
Before: The program was one of the most aggressive anywhere in 2020, and there are worries the Bank of Canada will start distorting the bond market at the current pace of purchases.
(First, I’d ask the writer who, exactly, is having these worries. Let’s say I was told traders were the ones worrying.)
After: The program was one of the most aggressive anywhere in 2020, and traders worry that the Bank of Canada will start distorting the bond market at the current pace of purchases.
A couple of other examples.
Before: I know there are family members in the crowd because I just heard my nickname.
After: I know family members are in the crowd because I just heard my nickname.
Before: But listen, there are people all over this country that are suffering.
After: But listen, people all over this country are suffering.
I always try to find a way around the it is or there is start to a sentence or part of a sentence, even when I’m trying to increase the word count to round out this column.
BREECH VERSUS BREACH
We recently witnessed a breach of the U.S. Capitol. I saw a few photo captions that incorrectly called the action a “breech.”
Breeches and breaches are entirely different. Breeches can be short pants, and the word can refer to buttocks. A breech birth is so-named because the baby’s buttocks show up first. The breech can also be the back of the barrel of a firearm.
A breach is a break or a violation. And the verb to breach means to break open a gap by battering, or simply to break through.
Sources include Merriam-Webster, The Washington Post, Grammar Underground, Education First, ESL Library. Reach Bernadette at
bkwordmonger@gmail.com