THE EDITOR, Sir:

I recently saw an article in The Gleaner where the expression that 'the good must suffer for the bad' was used. It certainly is not a case where the good must suffer "for" the bad but that the good suffers "with" the bad. The preposition "for" should be changed to "with." If it is a case where the good suffers for the bad, then the bad would go free, but that is not the case. Both good and bad always have to suffer together.

Another expression that is also wrongly constructed is "food for thought." No one gives you food and then tells you that you must use it for a thought. It is the other way around. They give you a thought implying that you can use it as food to your soul. This means then that the expression must be "thought for food." This error is normally made the world over.

I am, etc.,

Elvena Reittie

elvena@cwjamaica.com