Main Office v. Main Branch

On my way to work this morning, I saw this notice plastered on the glass window of a bank.

This main office branch will soon be open to serve you better.

I was bothered by the phrase "main office branch" in that sentence. Isn't it that the main office is not a branch. That is THE main office.

I uttered the same phrase a long time ago, and I remember that my father corrected me on this one.

The correct expression should be "main office:"

This main office will soon be open to serve you better.

The care in 'taken cared of'

"Children involved in armed conflict are well taken cared of."

My ears tingle whenever I hear people use the phrase, "taken cared of." The correct form is "taken care of."

The sentence above should read: Children involved in armed conflict are well taken care of.

In this phrase, the word care should be in the affirmative form because it already has "taken" as the main verb. These verb phrase "taken care of" falls under the category of causative verbs.

According to the rule, causative verbs designate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The problem has been taken care of." the verb "taken" causes the "care" to happen.

Cope up v. Cope with

"Welcome sa bahay ni Kuya. I hope you can cope up with the challenges inside,"

said the host of the Pinoy Big Brother on ABS-CBN. The phrase "cope up with" kept ringing in my ear.

In the English language usage, this is a common mistake. The correct phrase is "cope with." There are also cases where "cope" is enough.

To cope means to deal successfully with a difficult situation.

Examples:
It must be difficult to cope with five children and a job.
She had so much pressure on her in her job that eventually she just couldn't cope.

On misplaced modifiers

Davao City is a sprawling metropolis of over a million people located in the Southeastern part of Mindanao.

Take a look at the word "located" in bold font. Can you tell what it is describing in the sentence: "Davao City" or "people"?

The rule on modifiers is that they are placed next to the word they are modifying. A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is separated from the word or words it modifies.

To correct the given sentence, it should be:
Located in the Southern part of Mindanao, Davao City is a sprawling metropolis of over a million people.
OR
Davao City, which is located in the Southern part of Mindanao, is a sprawling metropolis of over a million people.

More examples:
Incorrect: She took a walk in the park wearing her new shoes.
Correct: Wearing her new shoes, she took a walk in the park.

Avoid Those Adverbs, Please

I was watching Balikbayan on QTV last night, and in one teaser, a female newscaster blurted:

"I personally witnessed the Pahiyas here in Lucban, Quezon."

There is nothing wrong with the adverb there, but it is unnecessary. The "I" already implies that the speaker is there in person.

Every time I hear or read adverbs, I'd remember Stephen King and his aversion to adverbs. In his book, On Writing, he says that if you can't describe an event well enough, no amount of adverbs is going to help your prose.

One of his famous lines, "The road to hell is paved with adverbs."