22 April 2014

BBC language and the cause of Peaches Geldof's death

This clip from the BBC about Peaches Geldof's funeral, ends by saying, “Her cause of death remains unexplained.”
     No cause can be “unexplained”. It is the death which is “unexplained”. The “cause” is unknown. An unexplained cause is one which you know, but which you do not understand. That is not the case in this instance. 
     What help is there for civilised society if the BBC cannot use English properly?


2 comments:

  1. Сергій СосницькийApril 22, 2014 at 2:03 PM

    Hello, Ian,
    Shouldn't it be "The cause of her death..." rather than “Her cause of death...” ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ian MitchellApril 22, 2014 at 2:12 PM

    You are quite right. That would have been even better English.

    ReplyDelete