The bank, a news article reported, “had pled guilty to charges that it made false entries.”
Why “pled”? A lot of lawyers (and a lot of lawyerly writings) seem to prefer it, and some dictionaries list it as an alternative past tense for “plead.” But we don’t say someone “pled for his life,” or “pled for mercy.” We say “pleaded.” And so it should be with legal pleas. Case closed, one hopes.
But no, not quite closed, and fair enough...................
In my opinion, if you're reporting it as it happened - he pleaded guilty. If you're talking about what he had done a while ago, he had pled guilty prior to the sentencing.
ShilohLady wrote: In my opinion, if you're reporting it as it happened - he pleaded guilty. If you're talking about what he had done a while ago, he had pled guilty prior to the sentencing.
thoughts?
Sorry SL. What you says seamed to make sences, I haved a strict policy against thought.
Journalism has nothing to do with literature. People who hold a journalism degree are writers, not authors of literature. The correct use of verb tense is essential to authors, not writers. Authors must know what they are doing.
As most publishers fire copy editors the quality of our written english has plummeted. How important is this to you? It's a pet peeve of mine and I wince every time.
Really? You find incorrect english amusing in newspaper, books etc.? I guess teaching English in schools is quaint and old fashioned now. Having standards makes one a crank too. Oh well, now that Andy Rooney has passed we have to spread his crankiness around.
