Episode 77: Eliquis is not so Eloquent

I watch way too many television advertisements. A new ad campaign shows an older gentlemen reliviing his basketball memories while discussing his medication that he is taking to prevent strokes. You and I might call the medicine a blood thinner.

The product in question is  Eliquis. The actor tells the viewer: "Don't stop taking Eliquis unless you doctor tells you to."About the only time I want to hear the phrase "Don't Stop" is when the song is performed by Fleetwood Mac.  Don't stop is a double negative. The fact that the sentence ends in a preposition makes it doubly problematic grammatically. Also, ending a sentence, or sentence fragment, a preposition with is always wrong.

The website cleans up some of the grammar where they state: "Do not stop taking Eliquis (apixaban) without talking to the doctor who prescribed it for you. Stopping ELIQUIS increases your risk of of having a stroke." The senetence should be "Discuss with your physician the risks of eliminating ELIQUIS from your medical routine before you stop taking the medicine."

The website also states that "you might have a higher risk of bleeding if you take Eliquis and other medicines that increase your chances of bleeding." Higher is a modifier. The statement should be that "you have a higher risk of bleeding than...."

My prescription, as always, is to run a grammar check prior to running a new advertisement. Someone should be able to run a grammar check after the script is written and before they are read by the actors.

You're Not Making Good Grammar Here

I caught the line: "You're not making a bad choice here" during a Red Lobster commercial. Are we making bad choice while we are eating in other restaurants? Are we making a good choice at Red Lobster? Double negatives have no place in any conversation. If the line was scripted, it was scripted poorly. If the line was coming from an actual customer, they could have chosen a more enthusiastic endorsement for their food.

You can find better grammar elsewhere on the radio

I was listening to the radio yesterday while running errands. There was an advertisement for Select Stone on 93.5 WRQN. The voice was attempting to be southern with a bit of a twang and the obligatory bad grammar. I lived in North Carolina. There aren't as many people with southern accents as we are led to believe. The obligatory bad grammar: "It don't get no better than that." So by speaking a double-negative you are saying that it does get better. Grammar does get better with practice.