To capitalize or not to capitalize. That is the question. It would appear that the Fox News author(s) of this article, “EPA Issues Greenhouse Gas Warning Despite Concerns Over Leaked E-Mails” did not find the correct answer before going to press. This article, also contributed to by The Associated Press, wrote:
“These long-overdue findings cement 2009′s place in history as the year when the United States Government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” she said.
I’m afraid the “United States Government” does not exist. There is, however, a “United States government”
and a “government of the United States”. If a particular committee within the United States government were being referenced then that name would be capitalized, but “government”, in this case, is not eligible for such a privilege.
The BBC had it right in their similar article.
Off the front page of The Huffington Post, the short article, “Stewart Responds to Hannity’s Apology: Nothing’s Worth Sitting Through His Show,” has a few typos I, as a slightly obsessive compulsive copywriter, must correct.
What THP wrote:
Earlier this week, Jon Stewart did a segment on Sean Hannity’s health care protest coverage in which he revealed that the Fox host had used footage of a different, larger event to make gathering look more impressive.
What I would have written:
Earlier this week, Jon Stewart did a segment on Sean Hannity’s health care protest coverage in which he revealed that the Fox host had used footage of a different, larger event to make the gathering look more impressive.
The second THP typo:
“He” came came out on stage to take a bow and…
What this seasoned freelance copywriter would have written:
“He” came out on stage to take a bow and…
And there you have it. Linguistic perfection.
The article on the front page of Fox News, “Health Care Revolt,” has a typo. Adding a missing comma would have made this article punctuationally perfect (yes, “punctuationally” is now a word).
The event drew the conservative “tea party” activists but unlike past rallies was officially sanctioned by House Republicans.
I would have written:
The event drew the conservative “tea party” activists, but unlike past rallies, it was officially sanctioned by House Republicans.
It’s the little things that make all the difference.
