GRAMMUR

7 posts / 0 new
Last post
GRAMMUR

What's wrong with this sentence? “There’s thousands and thousands, more as time goes past, that think this stuff has been really overblown and there is something a bit fishy about it.” From The Guardian.

 

interesting. I'll give it a stab. Grammur is obviously spelt wrong. Thousands of what? It lacks a subject. More of what doesn't therefore make sense. The splicing commas that seperate it from the main part of the sentence should not be used with 'that'. 'That should be replaced with who. If we move away from punctuation and syntax and look at meaning, repettion occurs with overblown and something a bit fishy. Some grammarians (if there is such a word) would also suggest adverbs such as 'really' add nothing to meaning and can be deleted. Similarly, 'something a bit fishy' is cliched. You'd be looking for a stronger image and rhetorical argument. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It really doesn't need a subject, but the writer is using the singular conflation 'there's' for a plural. So; there is thousands and thousands. One of the few days I weent to skool I was taught that a plural would be 'there are thousands and thousands' so the conflation should be 'there're' - and lo, the spellchecker agrees with me. I know language must change, but should grammar change?

 

'There's' should be 'There are'.