TV anchors, they can drive me crazy. Some TV people, they insist on putting a pronoun after the subject of a sentence.
“Governor Eric Holcomb, he couldn’t run for a third term…” (Kristen Skovira, WCPO-TV noon news, Wednesday, Nov. 6)
“The sheriff’s office, they tell us it happened just about 11 o’clock last night...” (Payton Marshall, WXIX-TV 7 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
Cincinnati newscasts, they were filled with this awkward subject-pronoun-verb sentence construction in recent days.
“Southbound lanes at the Big Mac Bridge, they do remain closed…” (Kristen Skovira, WCPO-TV 6 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
“Proceeds from the event, they really benefit Kids Café at the Freestore Foodbank...” (Payton Marshall, WXIX-TV 7 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3.)
A weather forecast, it can come with a chance of pronouns, too.
“Those rain chances, they scrape by the northern half of the area about 6, 7, 8 o’clock.” (Cameron Hardin, WCPO-TV 6 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
Those who tell sports stories, they also like pronouns.
“Joe Burrow’s offense, they will likely be without wideout Tee Higgins for a second straight week.” (Olivia Ray, WLWT-TV 6 p.m. news, Wednesday, Nov. 6)
My grade school English teachers, they taught me to write simple, direct sentences with a noun and verb. Pronouns, they hijack the path between the subject of the sentence and the verb.
My Ohio University journalism professors, they urged us to write concise sentences without a lot of long phrases that bogged down the pace of a story.
A teacher friend, she says that popping in that pronoun is just sloppy syntax and woefully wordy.
Broadcast news writing teachers, they stress using active verbs, short sentences and a conversational tone. The added pronoun, it could be seen to make the story sound more folksy — but I think it’s needless and stupid.
These prodigal pronouns, they were heard a lot in Sunday morning political stories.
“Today Kentucky Governor Beshear, he’s going to be in our area … Last night, Vice President Harris, she joined Mya Rudolph on Saturday Night Live … Former President Donald Trump, he was in Greensboro, N.C. ... Sen. Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno, they’re making their closing arguments …” (Kristen Skovira, WCPO-TV 6-7 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3).
Cincinnati sports coverage, it comes with lots of pronouns on the roster.
“FC Cincinnati, they had a few goals coming into the playoffs.” (Regan Holgate, WXIX-TV 7 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
“The Bengals, they are exhausting every resource to avoid falling to 3-6.” (Olivia Ray, WLWT-TV 6 p.m. news, Saturday, Nov. 2)
“Running back Chase Brown, he attacked the ground game.” (Marshall Kramsky, WCPO-TV 6 p.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
“Duke Tobin and company, they’re shopping currently (for possible Bengals trades)… “ (Olivia Ray, WLWT-TV 6 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
“The (TQL Stadium) bailey, they’re going to reach a new decibel. Mark my words.” (Regan Holgate, WXIX-TV 7 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., wideout Tee Higgins and running back Zack Moss, they are all doubtful to play later today." (Olivia Ray, WLWT-TV 6 a.m. news, Sunday, Nov. 3)
“The Bengals, they are celebrating on this Monday...” (Kristen Skovira, WCPO-TV noon news, Monday, Nov. 4.)
Most people, they don’t talk like this.
WLWT-TV anchor Tiffany Wilson, she reported the I-471 bridge closing story Sunday morning without using the annoying syntax. WKRC-TV anchor Sydney Hawkins, she also told Sunday morning viewers about the blocked bridge without proffering a pronoun.
Most TV people, they don’t talk like this, either.
David Muir, he doesn’t do it when anchoring ABC World News Tonight. Lester Holt, he doesn’t do it on the NBC Nightly News. Fox News anchor Bret Baier and CBS’ Nora O’Donnell, they don’t do it. Walter Cronkite, he didn’t do it either. And that’s the way it is.
WLWT-TV’s main news anchors Mike Dardis and Sheree Paolello, they don’t do it. Channel 5 sports anchor Charlie Clifford, he doesn’t do it — but coworker Olivia Ray, she uses pronoun-induced sentences almost every newscast. Channel 9’s Kristen Skovira, she regularly sprinkles her speech with pronouns — but weekday morning co-anchor Adrian Whitsett, he doesn’t do it.
In other words, most TV people, they’ve got the right stuff.
This longtime TV critic, he gets annoyed hearing silly things on TV, like when reporters and anchors say that “all eyes” are on a person, place or event.
This lifelong writer, he wants to get TV news in simple, direct sentences. This grammarian, he’s not opposed to using he/she/they — except when they immediately follow the subject of a sentence.
This old guy, he wishes everyone had the right stuff when it comes to the write stuff.
