The headline is technically grammatically correct but ambiguous. “…shot and killed unarmed black man” would have been better. If you absolutely need to stick to word/character count, “shot unarmed black man dead” would be less ambiguous and more in keeping with how people actually use “shot dead”. I’ve watched a lot of westerns and I can think of quite a few where someone says “I shot him dead” but not one where someone says “I shot dead him”.
Well, it’s an expression that only comes up in the third person, not the first person. You’d see “Tim shot dead Eric”. I think if they’d say anything like that in the UK, it would just be “I shot him”.
The headline is technically grammatically correct but ambiguous. “…shot and killed unarmed black man” would have been better. If you absolutely need to stick to word/character count, “shot unarmed black man dead” would be less ambiguous and more in keeping with how people actually use “shot dead”. I’ve watched a lot of westerns and I can think of quite a few where someone says “I shot him dead” but not one where someone says “I shot dead him”.
The US and the UK have different figures of speech and idioms. People in the UK don’t usually sound like cowboys.
I’d love to see an example of “I shot dead him”. I’m not trying to be defensive, I’d really enjoy seeing it. Dialects fascinate me.
Well, it’s an expression that only comes up in the third person, not the first person. You’d see “Tim shot dead Eric”. I think if they’d say anything like that in the UK, it would just be “I shot him”.
I still only have ever heard “Tim shot Eric dead.” I’ve never seen it any other way except in this headlines.
Yeah it’s the wrong way round but I think most people can also infer some context from the part where it mentions the murder charge.