‘Asked’ not ‘asking’: Tharoor clarifies after grammar goof-up in X post

Shashi Tharoor is known for his linguistic prowess and command over English diction. A lexicomane, the Congress MP has quite often held social media spellbound with his scholarly use of words and phrases.

 

But, the former diplomat admits he is not immune to making mistakes and acknowledges the “perils of tweeting in haste”.

 

On Saturday, Tharoor, who represents the Thiruvanathapuram constituency in Lok Sabha, shared on X a video of his interaction with a student at an event in Kochi. 

 

“In Kochi today, I was asking inevitable question by a high school student. While I have been steering clear of such political discussions in public, I felt a student deserved a response,” the post read.

 

Netizens were quick to point out the error as they wouldn’t expect him to drop the ball when it came to English grammar.

 

“Why have your tweets become so grammatically disastrous?,” asked Ajay Kamath, a noted ophthalmologist.

 

In his reply, Tharoor said he had dictated the post in haste. 

 

“The voice transcriber rendered ‘asked an’ as ‘asking’ and I failed to proofread since I was arriving at my next engagement. The perils of tweeting in haste! Mea culpa,” he said.

 

Later, the MP put out another tweet, clarifying that his earlier post should be read as “asked an” and not “asking”. He said he did not proofread what was transcribed.

 

 

India