Max, the sweet-toothed boy, 3, who walked a mile at 3am to buy chocolate

The Evening Standard (U.K.) ^ | August 7, 2008

[Stoat]

Which is why all our exterior doors have safety chain locks placed way up high where our fearless 3 year old can’t get to them.

I have no doubt that after Max's parents are over their shock their first stop will be the local hardware store for lots of household safety equipment   :-)

[wideminded]

I think that many people fail to acknowledge the essential nature of Chocolate in human physiology,

A lot of women seem to have no trouble acknowledging this once a month.

[Stoat]

Do Brits not speak in contractions? Or does the Brit media have a bias against them?

I'm guessing that there are quite likely just as many variations in style to British English as there is to American English.  What part of this story do you think would have been better expressed by the use of contractions?

[Stoat]

I think that many people fail to acknowledge the essential nature of Chocolate in human physiology,

A lot of women seem to have no trouble acknowledging this once a month.
 

LMAO!

Indeed, I have had ladies tell me not to get between them and their chocolates   :-)

I think that many people fail to acknowledge the essential nature of Chocolate in human physiology,

A lot of women seem to have no trouble acknowledging this once a month.
 

[Xenalyte]

Dialogue, I think, is best served by being represented as it was spoken. (I’m weird that way.)

[Stoat]

Dialogue, I think, is best served by being represented as it was spoken. (I’m weird that way.)

Indeed, but no example that you'd care to cite?

Nothing in the posted article looks terribly out of the ordinary to me, but perhaps I'm missing something.

[bvw]

He thought enough ahead to bring money. And went out into the dark, alone. Fascinating! And not the hallmarks of a socialist.

[Xenalyte]

"I have a child about the same age and it is terrifying to think what an adventurous youngster can get up to."

[Stoat]

He thought enough ahead to bring money. And went out into the dark, alone. Fascinating!

Forward-thinking and fearless.  He will undoubtedly grow up to do great things.  :-)

 And not the hallmarks of a socialist.

He's too young to have been corrupted and indoctrinated in such a way....hopefully he will have the strength of will to avoid such pernicious cancers in the years to come.

[Stoat]

"I have a child about the same age and it is terrifying to think what an adventurous youngster can get up to."
 

When considering the possible variations of cadence and stresses that could be placed upon such a sentence when spoken, I confess that I could envision myself as saying the same sentence in the way it was written in the article.  That being said, I think also that there's a strong chance that the article was not written as precisely and true to the original statement as it could have been....it has been decades since newspapers were regarded as bastions of reference-quality English, inhabited by fierce protectors of truth and accuracy, and so I guess that this sort of thing doesn't exactly rise to the level of a passionate objection for me since I have such low expectations of 'news' papers in terms not only of content but in the quality of the written word to begin with.  When I can pick up any American newspaper and find multiple grammatical or spelling errors on every page I'm afraid that my expectations in this arena are not great.  This dismal track record, coupled with the brazen and unabashed embrace of Leftist political agendas while professing objectivity leaves me as one who doesn't expect precision or accuracy of any sort from such sources.