What's wrong with this sentence?

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Ray Davies - 19 May 2009 04:34 GMT

Read it on a bag of Chifles platain chips, it says:

"The platain is a fruit that is imported from the same tropical countries
as bananas"

I don't know why exactly but this sentence makes my brain hurt everytime I
read it, does anybody see anything weird with it? English in not my first
language (third actually) so that might explain it.

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Einde O'Callaghan - 19 May 2009 10:10 GMT

> Read it on a bag of Chifles platain chips, it says:
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> read it, does anybody see anything weird with it? English in not my first
> language (third actually) so that might explain it.

Other than that the fruit is actually called "plantain", I can see
nothing really wrong.

Perhaps you are disturbed by the fat that "plantain" is singular and
"bananas" is plural. "The plantain" and "the banana" would probably be
better stylistically.

Einde O'Callaghan

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Egbert White - 19 May 2009 14:13 GMT

>Read it on a bag of Chifles platain chips, it says:
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>read it, does anybody see anything weird with it? English in not my first
>language (third actually) so that might explain it.

The meaning is quite clear, but there seems to be something awkward
about the wording. If I wanted to convey the same meaning I
understand the sentence to have, I would probably say

"The plantain is a fruit. Plantains are imported from the same
tropical countries bananas are imported from,"

or

"The plantain is a fruit. Plantains and bananas are imported from the
same tropical countries,"

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Egbert White
WAmE

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

What's wrong with this sentence?