World News

The Associated Press Botches Tweet About Malaysia Airlines Crash

Utter confusion over the AP’s poorly-worded tweet SCREENSHOT

There were two ways to react to a tweet from the Associated Press this morning:

You might have been horrified, thinking just how insane it was that the plane carrying the bodies of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 had crash landed. (It hadn’t.)

Or, you might have found yourself shaking your head, wondering what it means for grammarians that the Associated Press has forgotten all about the importance of avoiding misplaced modifiers.

At 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday, just as news broke that a Taiwanese airliner had crashed, the AP tweeted the following:

[fragment number=0]

The tweet had many wondering if the AP was reporting that the plane had just crash landed. Or, if the AP was just ignoring AP style.

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The AP’s corrective tweet:

[fragment number=1]

Watch your misplaced modifiers, people.

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