# Grammatical error on the front page of the Wall Street Journal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 6, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583 "2009-08-06T23:56:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583/1 "2009-08-06T23:56:33Z")

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Reading today’s (8/6) Wall Street Journal: Front page, second headline. Article: [Alert On M.D. Abuse Of Jackson Drug](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124951605785809351.html)

First sentence of paragraph three: \>\>Propofol, sold under the brand name Diprivan, is a widely used hospital sedatives.\<\<

Is there some grammatical rule I’m missing here, or is this incorrect?

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**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583/2 "2009-08-06T23:59:01Z")

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Looks to me like a simple typo that didn’t get picked up by an actual editor or an editing software program. Not really a grammatical mistake.

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**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583/3 "2009-08-07T00:10:35Z")

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Whilst it is likely a typographical error, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a grammatical mistake. Looks like sedative_s_ should be singular.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583/4 "2009-08-07T00:12:10Z")

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\>\>Propofol, sold under the brand name Diprivan, is a widely used hospital sedatives.\<\<

should be either

\>\>Propofol, sold under the brand name Diprivan, is \*one of the \*widely used hospital sedatives.\<\<

or

\>\>Propofol, sold under the brand name Diprivan, is a widely used hospital sedative.\<\< \*Drop the “S”)

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**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-error-on-the-front-page-of-the-wall-street-journal/505583/5 "2009-08-07T00:22:15Z")

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I’ll bet that the original sentence was “… is one of the most widely used hospital seditives.” An editor challenged that, and so the writer changed it and forgot to drop the plural S.