While blatant violations of English grammar are common in media language, one can also observe the utterance of speech that seems to be grammatical but on closer analysis violates what is called “well-formedness.” This happened on today’s NPR program “Morning Edition,” when one of the hosts (David Greene––a graduate of Harvard, no less!) uttered the phrase “both sides blamed the other” instead of the correct “each side blamed the other” in speaking of the current government shut down. Of course, it is not clear whether Mr. Greene was reading from a script or offering an ex tempore description, but in either case the breach of well-formedness stands.

MICHAEL SHAPIRO