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He added: 'Dean and Jerome are Bad Attorneys they dont (sic) now (sic) what justice is and they dont (sic) now (sic) what is a (sic) investigation is because if they did they would have done it for a (sic) innocent man like me!!!

And I was on appeal and they were still talking about the case and that was there (sic) ethics was (sic) violating my appeal!!

(Source: dailymail.co.uk)

This is a transcript from the handwritten letter where the grammatical mistakes are marked with "sic". I cannot find out what is wrong with "was" in the second sentence.

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  • Which "was" do you refer? I think "ethics" is plural.
    – Cardinal
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 19:27
  • But what about the definition of Ethics in Wikipedia: Ethics or moral philosophy is the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.
    – bart-leby
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 20:08
  • I see, but I think the context is not about that branch of science. is it?
    – Cardinal
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 20:11
  • "and that was there ethics" should be "and that was their ethics", although that still doesn't help the sentence much.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 21:53

2 Answers 2

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Subject to some interpretation, but I think it should be:

And I was on appeal and they were still talking about the case and that was their ethics was violating my appeal!!

There is one too many verbs.

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  • @ColleenV I didn't check that far into the context (probably the quote needs to be expanded to get the proper context). I revised my answer so maybe it is now more appropriate.
    – user3169
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 22:04
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Ethics is a plural noun and should take the plural form of the past tense of to be, which is were, not was.

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