The Herald goes tabloid

This morning the Herald goes tabloid, and editor Shayne Currie was on State Radio explaining, and demonstrating in one clause, why.

The reason why we’ve gone compact [he said] is to make it much more easier and convenient for readers…

And perhaps to make it a better fit for an editor unable to master the standard of English expected in a quality daily. Observe:

• ‘The reason why …’  - “Reason why”? Using both words “reason why” is as redundant as Currie should be. It’s a redundancy because if you say “the reason why” it’s like saying the word “reason” twice; that is to say the reason is already the why.  So that’s one.
• “…to make it much more easier…” – Lord love us, and this is an editor speaking. He couldn’t have made it much more worserer, really, could he.  He could have said “make it much easier,” which would be correct. He might have said “make it more easy,” which is also correct. Instead he said both, which is neither. So that’s two.

Currie says this morning the Herald is going tabloid. And that’s three: He got the tense wrong.

Because the Herald went tabloid a long time ago.  The format is just catching up with the content.