Here's a look at the front page of today's Times of India, Delhi edition. Let's start with the lead (In Congress, a battle rages for quote crown):
HRD minister Arjun Singh's suspected attempt to appropriate the political ownership of the move to introduce OBC quota in Central institutions has finally run into in-house resistance.
Suspected attempt? Who is suspecting Arjun Singh of doing anything? The next para says:
Social justice minister Meira Kumar has questioned the justification of the HRD minister's move to circulate a draft cabinet note on the reservation policy without waiting for the report of the Oversigh Committee set up by the government for the purpose.
Kumar has questioned Singh's decision to circulate the note. But "suspected attempt to appropriate" sounds a bit melodramatic. Suspected should have been dropped altogether. Later,
Suspicion in Congress circles about the HRD minister’s motive in championing the quota cause has been rampant, with sources pointing to the leadership’s discomfort with the ultra-zealous approach.
Rampant means spreading everywhere in a way that cannot be controlled. The copy does not seem to suggest this "suspicion" is widepread and spreading fast. Misleads the reader, if you were to ask me. And,
Yet, the doubts have not been vented, lest the critics got dubbed as anti-OBC.
Get is an extremely adaptable word, and must be used with caution. The usage of get, in fact, is quite rampant in most newspapers. Most subs can't get over the word. In this case, you don't get dubbed, you are dubbed. It should have been "lest the critics were dubbed" as whatever. A passing comment on this story — it is not always a good idea to drop the definite article. The third para of the story:
Responding to HRD ministry’s persistence with what many in the government see as its unilateral approach over the politically sensitive issue, the social justice minister is learnt to have asserted that the roadmap for quota implementation could not be drawn without inputs from the Oversight Committee.
The fourth para:
Sources said social justice ministry may not oblige HRD ministry with its comments on the draft cabinet note, on the ground that a document prepared without taking into account the findings of the Oversight Committee has no authenticity.
In both cases, it should have been the HRD ministry. The definite article the is used when speaking of a particular person or thing, or one already referred to. Anyway, let's move on to the next story (New giant to be born by July-end) which has a shocking intro:
Lakshmi Mittal, the so-called heavy metal billionaire of India and Britain, has hailed a new dawn for economically insular Europe on a "seminal day for the steel industry", which saw the world’s two rival companies formally announcing their intention to join and create a giant with a footprint in every area of the globe.
So-called has a negative connotation and "is used to show that you do not think that the word or phrase that is being used to describe somebody or something is appropriate". The way you have so-called experts. The sub concerned added more colour to the next para:
At a packed, eagerly-awaited press conference in Luxembourg, headquarters of European steel champion Arcelor, Mittal, his dashing young son and heir Aditya and Arcelor’s rickety old retiring chairman Joseph Kinsch proudly announced the deal of all deals and the creation of Arcelor-Mittal.
A rickety old man? LOL. Someone needs to brush up his/her language. Rickety means something that is not strong, and of course, something that is likely to break. A rickety chair or a rickety staircase, for example. The sub probably wanted to mean doddering. Probably. You'd better ask him/her yourself. That's not all. There's more colour in the third para too.
Sources close to Mittal told TOI on Monday that the new merged entity could be expected formally to take form and shape around the third or fourth week of July, roughly nine to 13 business days after Arcelor’s shareholders crucially tender their shares and thus agree to the merger.
Form and shape? What on earth does that mean? You would have heard of phrases like form and content and shape and size, but never this one definitely. Either form or shape would have sufficed. On to the next story (Nizam's ex-wife gets $3 million in alimony). The copy is fine, but I have a question. Why are the monetary amounts mentioned in dollars? Since when have Indian family courts started to announce maintenance amounts in dollars? If the Hyderabad indeed did so, it ought to have been made clear in the copy. Why indeed. A minor thing in the fourth para:
The family court hearing the maintenance case in camera also ruled that the Nizam’s palaces — Chiran, Falaknuma and Chowmahalla in Hyderabad and Cidar, which is in Ooty — would be used to recover the amount due to Onur and Niloufer.
In camera should be been in italics for clarity's sake. The header of the adjacent single column (DU's two top courses have few teachers) is misleading. Two top courses would mean any two of the most sought after courses; while top two courses would mean the two most sought after courses. The story suggests it was the latter. Elementary. The two-para story has more:
Both these departments are plagued by the most serious faculty shortage both at the college and post-graduate level.
Should have been in the plural: levels.
One glance at the department of Economics is enough to gauge the enormity of the problem.
Capping economics in this case has nothing to do with house style. Were it so, it should have been Department of Economics. Moving down to the anchor now ($37b: Biggest-ever one-man charity). Just one mistake:
In a letter dated Monday, Buffet told the Gates that he will be sending about $1.5 billion every year and that the first donation of Berkshire Hathaway Inc stock would go to the foundation next month.
It should have been Gateses. I know this doesn't "sound" correct, but it is. Just Gates, is not. When a word ends in -s, the plural is created by adding -es. Like class, classes; and kiss, kisses. The rule applies to proper nouns as well, just in case you are planning to corner me on this one. The rule likewise applies to words ending in -sh, -ch, or -x. Like dish, dishes; branch, branches; tax, taxes. Elementary, once again.
