Edudemic

The king of all things grammar?! My Aunt Fanny! Considering the number of misspellings, basic usage errors and elementary pluralization mistakes found in AP stories, the very idea of an AP style guide is, frankly, risible. Please consider the persistent appearance of such howlers as "deers," "crafts" (speaking of a group of boats), "aircrafts" (this as a pluralization - I suppose an aircraft carrier should now be an "aircrafts carrier"), or "brother-in-laws" (this intended as a pluralization, not a possessive). I could go on, of course. I suppose the AP no longer employs English-speaking editors.

I'm not trained in AP Style, and I'm sure I make plenty of mistakes in my writing, but here are changes I'd make to the article: (1) "...how about when someone says..." should be "...what about when someone says..." (2) "...the improper use of grammar seems to always focus..." should be "... always seems to focus..." (3) "(This is an academic blog after all)" should be "(This is an academic blog, after all.)" (4) "We’ll see if they offer up any new changes..." should be "We’ll see if they offer any new changes..." (5) "...feel free to correct the grammar mistakes on this article in the comments!" should be "feel free to correct this article's grammar mistakes in the comments!" (6) This is a sticky point that I'm unsure about in modern grammar: whether to use "them" instead of "he" as a pronoun to the antecedent "someone." The phrase "someone threatening me with bodily harm because I correct them" might need to be changed to "someone threatening me with bodily harm because I correct him" That gender-specific traditional reference makes it questionable, but I learned it that way when I was in school during the Dark Ages. (7) I wasn't sure about this, either, but is the name Associated Press considered plural or singular? If the AP is considered singular, the sentence "Anyway, the Associated Press, kings of all things grammar, have finally updated their 2010 Stylebook." should be "Anyway, the Associated Press, king of all things grammar, has finally updated its 2010 Stylebook."

The king of all things grammar?! My Aunt Fanny! Considering the number of misspellings, basic usage errors and elementary pluralization mistakes found in AP stories, the very idea of an AP style guide is, frankly, risible. Please consider the persistent appearance of such howlers as "deers," "crafts" (speaking of a group of boats), "aircrafts" (this as a pluralization - I suppose an aircraft carrier should now be an "aircrafts carrier"), or "brother-in-laws" (this intended as a pluralization, not a possessive). I could go on, of course. I suppose the AP no longer employs English-speaking editors.

I'm not trained in AP Style, and I'm sure I make plenty of mistakes in my writing, but here are changes I'd make to the article:

(1) "...how about when someone says..." should be "...what about when someone says..."
(2) "...the improper use of grammar seems to always focus..." should be "... always seems to focus..."
(3) "(This is an academic blog after all)" should be "(This is an academic blog, after all.)"
(4) "We’ll see if they offer up any new changes..." should be "We’ll see if they offer any new changes..."
(5) "...feel free to correct the grammar mistakes on this article in the comments!" should be "feel free to correct this article's grammar mistakes in the comments!"
(6) This is a sticky point that I'm unsure about in modern grammar: whether to use "them" instead of "he" as a pronoun to the antecedent "someone." The phrase "someone threatening me with bodily harm because I correct them" might need to be changed to "someone threatening me with bodily harm because I correct him" That gender-specific traditional reference makes it questionable, but I learned it that way when I was in school during the Dark Ages.
(7) I wasn't sure about this, either, but is the name Associated Press considered plural or singular? If the AP is considered singular, the sentence "Anyway, the Associated Press, kings of all things grammar, have finally updated their 2010 Stylebook." should be "Anyway, the Associated Press, king of all things grammar, has finally updated its 2010 Stylebook."