• Fantomas@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    9 months ago

    Whenever I see ‘could’ or any other modal verb in a newspaper article, I always reverse the sentence.

    ‘This could not be the holy grail to replace palm oil’ is equally true.

    Journalism is a silly passtime.

    • krayj@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      9 months ago

      I call it “what if?” news… so I basically I do the same thing you do, only instead of replacing “could” with “could not”… I just rewrite the sentence to start off with the words “What if”, like this: “What if this could be the holy grail to replace palm oil”.

      Replacing “What if” with “IN A WORLD, WHERE…” and then doing in the movie trailer guy’s voice works equally well.

      • Coreidan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        You’re right. It’s not silly for the rich folks who use the media to brainwash the public. They have everything to gain from pushing propaganda down the throats of everyone