The Word Maven

When I read this recap of a TV show, I had to check to see who wrote it, because I thought it might have been from a reader, an amateur wordsmith, and in that case, I would be kind and not name names. But this is a professional writer. “… Associate Television Editor at the Huffington Post. She previously worked at Seventeen Magazine and with Hearst Digital Teen Network. Her work has been featured on The New York Times’ Local East Village blog, Billboard.com and Spin.com.” So Crystal Bell, I have to call you out on this.

There was a suicide attempt in this episode and Crystal wrote that some viewers thought it unrealistic “for him to try and kill himself.” But wait, it was a suicide ATTEMPT. Did he try to kill himself? Yes. Did he try and kill himself? No.

That was annoying, but Crystal continued and wrote this grammatical impossibility:
“I truly thought that Karofsky was going to try and kill himself again.” How can he kill himself again when he never killed himself in the first place?

Did Crystal try to fail at writing grammatically? No. Did Crystal try and fail to write grammatically? Indeed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crystal-bell/glee-recap_b_1292020.html