Grammar goofs: Even the pros make mistakes

Has the Golden Age of Proofread Publications passed? These days, the fastidious reader can’t and shouldn’t expect perfection even when flipping through The New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

“A new wave of start-ups are cashing in on the next stage of the Internet.”

What’s wrong with that sentence? Worse, what’s discouraging about it?

Or this one:

“”A forum of employees then work together to make desire a reality.””

What’s wrong is the disagreement, in the first example, between singular subject “wave” and plural verb “are cashing in,” and in the second, between “”forum”” and “”work.”” What’s discouraging is that the first sentence appeared in Newsweek, while the second came courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.

I used to consider The Wall Street Journal a paragon for writing excellence. I held Newsweek and The New York Times right up there, too.

I have to admit my dismay when I happened upon this in a recent Times restaurant review: “None require reservations.” You may argue that the noun none can sometimes take a plural verb, but not in this case. Requires was the required verb.

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