[irish_links]

"...It is a staggering mistake to say that English is one of 4 early offshoots from the ancestral Indo-European language...."

It is a staggering mistake to say that the author suggested that. Rather, he states that the early Indo-European language split eventually LED to English, not that English developed at the time of the split.

[ClearCase_guy]

It is a staggering mistake to say that the author suggested that.

I understand what the author intended, but the formation of that sentence is poor. If I state that Blues has had a wide influence in modern music, leading to Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll and Duran Duran … this statement is not incorrect, but don’t you think “Duran Duran” is a little out of place?

Duran Duran does not represent a major branch of modern music. English is not a major language family. But I believe Greek, Latin, and Celtic are considered major language families. It's just awkward to make English a fourth "example".

[NotQuiteCricket]

Don't worry about it. It is an article in the New York Times. You expect too much from this reporter. Maybe the reporter is not a native English speaker (due to affirmative action at the slimes). To expect correct and clearly understandable sentence structure and grammer is racist.

</sarcasm>