The notable exclusion of poverty from the Christian agenda would doubtlessly puzzle European Christians, whose support of Christian ethical approaches to family life have always been paired with a deep and vigorous concern for the poor.
Did you find the error(s)?
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The error that jumped right out at me was the concept of a "Christian agenda." And Europe has been pretty much secular for decades (church attendance around 10% if I recall correctly). Finally, it is historically inaccurate to state that there has ever been "a deep and vigorous concern for the poor."
ReplyDeleteThat's three, there could be more.
Subject-verb disagreement: should read "whose support of Christian ethical approaches to family life has always been paired..."
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one bothered by "doubtlessly"? Surely, the final two letters should not be there. I don't think'exclusion; is a verb requiring an adverb.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteElisson nails what I was looking for, in terms of grammatical errors (SVA), but I agree with you that doubtlessly is a stylistic faux pas, almost like a poor attempt at a snooty British tone. We normally use doubtless as an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs:
•He is doubtless incensed by your behavior. (modifying the participial adjective incensed)
•This will doubtless puzzle European Christians. (modifying the compound verb will puzzle)
The adverbial "-ly" ending, while not exactly grammatically incorrect, is still superfluous, which is probably what annoys both you and me.
A pedantic editor's note, however: "exclusion" is a noun, not a verb, as can be seen by the use of the definite article the. ["The notable exclusion..."]