"While we celebrate the joy of the birth of our daughter, we recognize that two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives. These mothers and children can be saved, but only if governments around the world make it a priority." - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, in a statement issued by Getty Images
Getty Images is a media conglomerate that made a deal with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to license photographs of Shiloh for the purpose of raising funds for charity. The company issued a press release on the couple's behalf, and it appears as though Angelina and Brad have made an error in diction through a faulty reference. Before we examine this error, we should note that it is common for public relations agents to take the sentiments of their clients and fashion their words into language suitable for publication. As such, it is possible that neither Angelina nor Brad made the error. It may in fact be an error on the part of the professional writers who crafted the statement for the couple and the company. Getty Images has issued a formal correction. Let's look at what went wrong:
In the first sentence, Brad and Angelina recognize "two million babies born every year." In the second sentence, they refer back to the babies as "these mothers and children." This syntax implies that the babies are not only children, but mothers as well. The error can be corrected in two ways.
Getty Images has chosen to maintain the use of the pronoun "these" and remove "mothers and" from the subject. "These children" now refers back to "two million babies born every year" and establishes a logical reference.
Another option would be to change the meaning of the second sentence by removing the pronoun "these." The sentence would begin, "Mothers and children can be saved." This removes the reference but also imparts logic to the sentence (the plight of mothers who lose their children is compelling, so it makes sense that Angelina and Brad would want to save them as well).
This is what Getty Images has Angelina and Brad stating now:
"While we celebrate the joy of the birth of our daughter, we recognize that two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives. These children can be saved, but only if governments around the world make it a priority."
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