Chicago Grammar & Spelling Watch

We've mentioned before that a standard marker of newspaper quality is copy free from mistakes of grammar and spelling. If a staff takes pride in its newspaper, if executive editors insist on quality, and if the many editors who read the copy are really paying attention to what they're reading, then words will be spelled correctly and grammar will be correct. If that's not the case, it's usually a bad sign. It can be a sign of problems much more serious than grammar and spelling mistakes. It can be a sign of a staff that doesn't take pride in its newspaper, executive editors who don't insist on quality, and many editors who read copy without really paying attention to what they're reading. In that regard, mistakes of grammar and spelling can help explain much larger problems, such as violations of ethical standards and violations of public trust, including the neglect of ethical disclosure and the exploitation of journalistic resources to generate profits through advertorial synergies and Cubs ticket and merchandise sales.

All newspapers let mistakes slip into print. We at CCW make mistakes, too, although we don't have a staff of paid copy editors to catch them. But the Tribune, despite its staff of paid copy editors, makes mistakes routinely, and more often, we'd bet, than any other major metropolitan daily of its size. Here are some examples, collected in the last few days by the Chicago Cubune Watch's Indefatigable Schoolmarm (whose very moniker makes us reach for the dictionary):

A March 10 story today by David Heinzman, which describes a tragic incident, includes these sentences:

A woman was "screaming at a woman who asked her not to play with a guide Seeing Eye dog for the blind..."

Sounds like they couldn't decide what kind of dog it was. The story goes on:

"When she did not, they arrested her for trespassingcq and put her in a cell overnight."

CQ is editor lingo for "correct." That CQ probably means that yes, someone in the newsroom made a phone call and confirmed that the arrest was for trespassing. It's good news, as far as we're concerned, that the Tribune verifies a fact now and then. However, the reader's not supposed to see the CQ. The story goes on:

"Police officials have acknowledged that officers did not seek mental health care for Eilman in the more than 29 27 hours she was in custody."

Was she in custody for 29 hours? 27 hours? 2,927 hours? One can only wonder. The same story:

"One detective, who is not a defendant in the lawsuit, described Eilman as looking lost after she was released, making making a sign of the cross on her chest before wandering off."

Did she make the sign twice? Let's move to another story, this time in the Sports section. Below is an example of Tribune grammar in a March 8 story by Dave van Dyck, who has recently become one of the Tribune's more intolerable sportswriters:

"It's just that Floyd—and none of the others who has been given a chance at the vacancy—are cooperating."

The long clause that confused van Dyck is likely to confuse readers, too, so let's break it down to subject and verb: "Floyd and none... are cooperating." Make sense? Don't worry, we're probably better off when Dave's not making sense than we are when he's making stuff up. By the way, there are two grammatical errors in van Dyck's sentence. We've only discussed one. You get a gold star if you can find the second.

A good copy editor ought to have this next example of Tribune grammar on his or her pet-peeve list. This is from a March 7 story by reporter Phillip Hersh:

"The U.S. Olympic Committee group touring some of Chicago's proposed 2016 venues today hopefully brought boots."

The group hopefully brought boots. Literally, this means that the group was full of hope when they brought boots. Because they were hoping they'd have a chance to wear their boots? Because they think they look hot in boots? What Phillip means, we guess, is that he, Phillip, hopes they brought boots, because it's been raining: "I hope the group brought boots."

We wish we could read the Tribune without having to wear boots.