Should we close questions about grammatically incorrect sentences when written by an important figure?

Question

Related to this question:

Understanding "having to do with this most important summit"

If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

I'm tempted to simply close the question as off-topic because the sentence is simply poorly written and is a poor example for English learners. Ordinarily we close these kind of questions, where we can show the text contains some kind of error.

However, since it's written by Donald Trump, currently the most influential figure in American politics, it seems a disservice to English learners who are likely to scratch their heads over his tweets and letters and other linguistic abuses.

Moreover, I wouldn't want this to be seen as a political decision, based on personal opinions and not the value to the community.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

I think this falls under "practical problems you encounter while learning English." Learners will encounter ungrammatical/awkward English often and not just from influential figures. There is no close reason that covers "You picked a bad example to ask about because it's not good English." If the only issue with the question is the source of the question, we probably should consider carefully before we close it.

If the text is something that other learners are likely to encounter then we should answer the question and explain why the text isn't good English. If it is a typo in something less widely read that maybe wouldn't be useful to that many other people, we may just want to explain that in a comment and close it.

Answer 2

We get many similar questions, which may be based on excerpts from quoted athletes, news articles, scientific papers, or presidential tweets. (Another recent example is the "bending time" question.)

I would NOT vote to close such questions simply because they ask about bad English. I maintain these are fair questions; after all, when encountering such grammatical oddities, there is no way for learners to instinctively know if they have stumbled onto an unfamiliar construct, a regional idiom, or just plain careless English. So long as the quote is cited and the source of confusion is clearly identified, I think these questions can be both of interest and value to the community, and they ought to be encouraged.

One thing I would caution, however: when such quotes surround contentious topics or controversial figures, it is imperative that the answers and comments to stay focused on English; they should neither digress into heated debates about the topic nor take potshots at political figures. (If you see this happening, it's usually better to flag the comment rather than join the ruckus.)