Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

fiona1

Member Since

October 31, 2016

Total number of comments

2

Total number of votes received

2

Bio

Latest Comments

The fact of the matter is is that

  • October 31, 2016, 4:31am

It occurs to me that the post I made just now is altogether too technical!

In essence, people are misunderstanding a correct (though messy) construction and inserting a superfluous 'is' - basically, it appears, overthinking it.

So, 'What the problem is is that the government...' is a correct (if ugly) formation. The 'What the problem is' is the subject of the verb.

So people think that if they say 'The problem is' they must then add an 'is', and we get 'The problem is is that the government...' However, of course, the subject of the second example is simply 'the problem'. So it should read, 'The problem is that the government...'

I find it quite astonishing that this 'double-is' formation has achieved such prevalence in recent years, even amongst journalists and academics.

Never have I felt more Canute-like; I really must get over my frustration with this one, as I see absolutely no way of turning the tide!

The fact of the matter is is that

  • October 31, 2016, 4:11am

I'm glad this is annoying someone else (if you will forgive me!) - so frustrating to see so many people falling into this 'trap', and such educated ones, to boot!

Here are two useful links which explain it fully: http://www.casasanto.com/laura/documents/doubleis.pdf and http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001123.html