Post Reporter Assaults English Language
Never start an article with a run-on sentence.
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In a recent Washington Post article entitled “Furor over climate research e-mails”, reporter Juliet Ellperin fell into using a run-on sentence to communicate. Here’s the sentence in question:
“Hackers broke into the electronic files of one of the world’s foremost climate research centers last week and posted an array of e-mails in which prominent scientists engaged in a blunt discussion of global warming research and disparaged climate-change skeptics.”
She uses “and” twice with no commas. That’s a run-on sentence.
It leaves the reader wondering exactly what she is trying to communicate. Add to that a bit of technical jargon (“posted an array of e-mails”) and the result is utter confusion. The communication could be improved by using commas or by writing two sentences.
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