Is this correct English?

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Frederick Williams - 19 Jan 2009 15:39 GMT

Seen here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/obama_inauguration/7837193.stm:

Roads and bridges into Washington will be closed to traffic,
with sniffer dogs on the subway.

Is that correct English? I see no connection between what occurs before
the comma and what occurs after.

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But you see, I can believe a thing without understanding it.
It's all a matter of training.
--Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L Sayers' _Have His Carcase_

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Loki Harfagr - 19 Jan 2009 18:41 GMT

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:39:11 +0000, Frederick Williams did cat :

> Seen here:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/obama_inauguration/7837193.stm:
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Is that correct English? I see no connection between what occurs before
> the comma and what occurs after.

at the best it'd be US-newspaperish, circular thinking and slow fingers ;-)

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Egbert White - 19 Jan 2009 20:02 GMT

>Seen here:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/obama_inauguration/7837193.stm:
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>Is that correct English? I see no connection between what occurs before
>the comma and what occurs after.

It's correct English in the sense that it parses grammatically okay,
in the same sense that "I eat the window" would parse grammatically
okay.

It's bad English in that, although the intended meaning seems clear,
the way the statement is worded doesn't accurately express that
meaning. It seems reasonable to assume the writer meant the following

| Roads and bridges into Washington will be closed to traffic,
| and there will be sniffer dogs on the subway.

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Egbert White, | "I love Americans, but not when they try
Planet Earth | to talk French. What a blessing it is that
| that they never try to talk English."
| -- Saki's Mrs. Mebberley

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Loki Harfagr - 21 Jan 2009 19:34 GMT

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:02:56 -0800, Egbert White did cat :

>>Seen here:
>>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/obama_inauguration/7837193.stm:
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> It's correct English in the sense that it parses grammatically okay, in
> the same sense that "I eat the window" would parse grammatically okay.

Still I have this feeling that your example doesn't strech enough to
reach the OP quoted sentence extents that I read more like:
"I eat the window, with rocks in glass" or
"I eat the window, with dogs of doom in the path where no one goes"

> It's bad English in that, although the intended meaning seems clear, the
> way the statement is worded doesn't accurately express that meaning. It
> seems reasonable to assume the writer meant the following
>
> | Roads and bridges into Washington will be closed to traffic, |
> and there will be sniffer dogs on the subway.

well put, I also think that it was the intended meaning, too bad that
he then used a word corrector and a systranslhater...

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009

Is this correct English?