Hi all! This week’s boo-boos include misused words plus a sentence that goes nowhere,  which will cause you to scratch your heads and say, “Huh?” Let us begin!

1. “For decades, the district of Lower Manhattan … was associated to one thing and one thing only: Wall Street.”
2. “CCA operates its network of private prisons by getting lucrative contracts by different state governments on the promise that they can run these correctional facilities on a cost-saving basis…”
3. “This time, Bauer decided to investigate how privatization of a number of prisons across the U.S., especially how the prison system is being run more like a business than a penal institution.”

The corrections:

1. Did you spot it? Please say yes. 😁 “Associated to” is incorrect. A thing is not associated “to” something else; it is associated with something else. So the sentence should say: For decades, the district of Lower Manhattan … was associated with one thing and one thing only: Wall Street. 
2. You may notice this gaffe because of the repeated word, “by.” Did that jump out at you? If so, you may also have noticed that the second “by” is incorrect. It should say with, as in the previous blooper. You “get” a contract with someone, not “by” someone. (I also shudder at the colourless verb, “getting,” used here. Winning or signing would sound much better. But I digress.) The sentence should read: CCA operates its network of private prisons by getting (signing!) lucrative contracts with different state governments on the promise that they can run these correctional facilities on a cost-saving basis…
3. Okay, how many times did you read this sentence (and I use the term loosely) hoping that at some point it would make some sense? Impossible, the way it’s written. That’s because there’s a wrong word in the first half. We need to swap out the first “how” for a the. Oh, and it would also be nice to add an and after “U.S.,”: The sentence will then read: This time, Bauer decided to investigate the privatization of a number of prisons across the U.S., and especially how the prison system is being run more like a business than a penal institution. This flows better and is more coherent now.

There. The Grammar Cop feels vindicated. See you next week when we will fix more sentence snafus!