"That"

[Portmanteau]

Deadset, this may be the pettiest thing ever, but the amount of times the word "that" (and variants thereof, i.e. "those") incorrectly is used on television these days, particularly news broadcasts seriouslys ****s me.

For instance, Sandra Sully will open a new item with "That horrific road accident that happened in country..." as opposed to "The horrific road accident, which occurred last week, in the country."

Now, for anyone who knows the English language, you have to establish what you are talking about before you can use that, his, hers etc.

So basically, your average punter may have no idea that such a thing has happened, but according to Sandra Sully et al, we already know what they're talking about.

 

[Seb]

They have to account for the audience, simple as that.

What really irritates me is the use, or lack of as the case maybe, of the past participle: 'He come off the bench'..... etc