Pedants' corner
Wills lunge at me
Merryclaire · 08/01/2023 09:10
Surely either ‘Will’s’ or ‘lunged’ (but only the latter if calling him Wills rather than Will)?
Although, not sure why I expect better from The Sun.
Of course, if I’m being really picky it should be ‘Philip’s funeral’ but that one is forgivable due to making it concise.
Paslaptis · 08/01/2023 13:00
"Wills lunge" seems to suggest a repeated or ongoing action, e.g., "wherever I go wills lunge at me; it's unavoidable!"
The underlying Sun article , at least the online version, uses "lunged" and refers to William or Prince William.
As an aside, I'm getting a little bit worried about William. In all these excerpts he seems to be "steaming", "heated", "piping hot" and so on. Are these the effects of climate change, perhaps?
Stepuptowardsinfinity · 08/01/2023 13:10
The lunge belongs to Wills as Wills is the full name, not Will, so it should be Wills's lunge if the lunge is the noun, or Wills lunged if lunge is the verb, so Wills lunged at me after the funeral. 'Wills's lunge at me' requires something to happen after, such as Wills's lunge at me after the funeral made me feel bad.
JenniferBarkley · 08/01/2023 13:46
I don't know the technical term but it's a common construction in headline writing - you see it elsewhere in the image in "Harry book" and "Philip funeral", it just looks funny because they've used the name Wills rather than Will or William.
I doubt it's wrong as it's very common in written media (including outside the tabloids!).
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