Cruise ship to retrace Titanic??

[Mada]

So it's another one of those WTF moments you get while reading the news: Cruise Ship Begins Voyage To Retrace Titanic's Path | Fox News

Yes I know it's a memorial type thing, but don't tell me the headlines fooled you. I actually thought they were going to purposely hit an iceberg and sink the ship, similar to the Titanic. After reading the rest of it, it sounded pretty cool (if they aren't going to actually hit an iceberg)

Also-

With 1,309 passengers aboard, the MS Balmoral will follow the same route as the Titanic -- though the Balmoral had to leave two days earlier than the Titanic did because it is a small and slower vessel.

Yay grammar nazi. Unclear antecedent. Anyone know what "it" is referring to?

 

[A.Nonymous]

I'm assuming it refers to the Balmoral. It's not completely clear though.

 

[OutofDate1980]

"The Balmoral is operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, whose parent company, Harland and Wolff, built the Titanic in Belfast."

I do hope that the Balmoral used better rivets than the Titanic.

 

[Steven58]

I read the article...the cruise is very expensive.

 

[ElasticNinja]

I dont know why you'd bother. It got delayed by high winds and a guy got a heart attack and had to be helicoptered to hospital in Kerry.

 

[ylexot]

Yay grammar nazi. Unclear antecedent. Anyone know what "it" is referring to?

Simple logic will tell you that "it" is the Balmoral. Two vehicles follow the same path. The slower one takes longer to complete the journey. "It" is the slower one. The Balmoral is leaving two days early. Therefore, "it" is the Balmoral.

Or for the grammatically inclined, the phrase "than the Titanic did" can be removed without changing the meaning resulting in "the Balmoral had to leave two days earlier because it is a small and slower vessel." Although, "slower" should be changed to "slow" since you are no longer comparing it to the Titanic.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Grammar Nazi fight!!!

 

[Mada]

Simple logic will tell you that "it" is the Balmoral. Two vehicles follow the same path. The slower one takes longer to complete the journey. "It" is the slower one. The Balmoral is leaving two days early. Therefore, "it" is the Balmoral.

Or for the grammatically inclined, the phrase "than the Titanic did" can be removed without changing the meaning resulting in "the Balmoral had to leave two days earlier because it is a small and slower vessel." Although, "slower" should be changed to "slow" since you are no longer comparing it to the Titanic.

Now that is the sentence that should have been in the article, to prevent confusion. I did figure it out but I had to reread it a couple times. Folks with lower experience in English (mainly foreign language people) would probably be confused as well.

Simple logic can be used to figure out grammar, but IMO I should not have to use it to read an article. If I was editing that paper, I would have fixed that sentence. An article should be short and quick yet informative.