the missing word bothers me, too. It also got killed in an intersection on its way to work, to show up in this meme.
To everyone who can’t figure out the missing word, it’s “the people once tied to them ‘WERE’ killed in crosswalks…”
I think it’s correct as-is. Inserting a “were” would make that clause read as independent. With how the sentence is currently structured, that doesn’t work.
That’s not to say you couldn’t have
The tracks are now unruley [sic] and wild—the people once tied to them were killed in crosswalks by giant trucks
if you want, but the comma needs to change to something like a dash or a semicolon. With a comma (i.e., as a subordinate clause), “were” doesn’t make sense.
More fun with trolleys:
https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/I’ve read it 3 times, and I can’t find a missing word. It makes sense to me. What word is missing?
sometimes you come
topull the lever…
So many lives destroyed and still being destroyed. No end in sight.
I don’t see a missing word.
You can add the word “fucking” pretty much anywhere.
You don’t see it because it’s missing
I answered the comment below you but I couldn’t resist this stupid joke
A comma maybe, then.
‘the people once tied to them killed in a crosswalk’ really sounds weird to me.
Heck, my phone agrees.
Seems like a stylistic choice to me. Leaving out the “have been” makes it sound more poetic, but I don’t think it’s wrong per se
Grammar has so many “technically correct” yet odd sentence structures.
The sentence definitely has a weird flow and could absolutely contain reader assistance via punctuation.I think a colon would be the most apt punctuation here.
The tracks are now unruly and wild, the people tied to them: killed in crosswalks
But to be honest I was fine with no punctuation. The bit that most bothers me is the choice of preposition. You don’t go in a crosswalk. You go on it. Or maybe you’re at the crosswalk when you’re killed. But certainly not in.
In (the area of) a crosswalk would make sense?
That said, not English native speaker.
Not a native speaker but for me it sounds fine. The “are now” is left out because it would be repeated if that makes sense.
“The people, [who were] tied to them, [are now] killed in a crosswalk.”
You’re missing “once”
I see a lot of other problems, but not a missing word…
