Revising Aloud, Anyone?

My recent posts reveal my secret identity as one who goes through their days helping others to write coherently. I can't help but get peeved when professionals publish the kind of things that I expect from my ESL and developmental English students. Like this snippet:

"The Giants also were able to shake off Kevin Boss' early fumble and kept the woebegone Seahawks from gaining any life from it." — From an article by Vinny DiTrani in The Record(Bergen County, NJ), November 9, 2010

I know weird things happen when we write. Isn't that why we revise? An out-loud reading of this demands, it seems to me, keep instead of kept. That's how I feel about it.

R.

Why Determiners Matter II

From msn.com:

Pope calls Egypt church attack vile gesture

Do I need to say anything about this one? Is msn.com letting volunteers write and title their articles? Is it really costing them a great deal too much to put the "a" where it belongs?

R.