Chapter 49: Consistent and Complete Structures
CHAPTER 49Consistent and Complete Structures
YOU HEAR INCONSISTENT and incomplete structures all the time in conversation. For instance, during an interview with journalist Bill Moyers, Jon Stewart discussed the supposed objectivity of news reporting:
But news has never been objective. It’s always . . . what does every newscast start with? “Our top stories tonight.” That’s a list. That’s a subjective . . . some editor made a decision: “Here’s our top stories. Number one: there’s a fire in the Bronx.”
Stewart is talking casually, so some of his sentences begin one way but then move in another direction. The mixed structures pose no problem for the listener, but sentences such as these can be confusing in writing.