A South Korean flight attendant is suing Korean Air and a former executive over the "nut rage" incident, where the executive verbally and physically attacked the attendant for how she served nuts on a flight. The executive, Cho Hyun-ah, had ordered the plane to offload another flight steward and was later jailed for one year for obstructing aviation safety. The attendant's civil lawsuit is seeking compensation for damage to her career, reputation, and emotional well-being caused by Cho's actions.

1. Syntactic analysis
KHAIRUNNADIAH BINTI MOHD SAMUDDIN
LEW WENG YEW

2. S Korea 'nut rage' attendant sues
A South Korean flight attendant is suing Korean Air and a jailed former
executive in the US over what became known as the "nut rage" incident.
Lawyers for Kim Do-hee allege that Heather Cho verbally and physically
attacked Kim Do-hee for the way she served nuts on a plane taking off from
New York's JFK airport on 5 December.
Cho later ordered the taxiing plane to offload another flight steward.
Last month, Cho was jailed for one year for obstructing aviation safety.
Cho - also known as Cho Hyun-ah - was a vice-president overseeing cabin
service for Korean Air, and is also the daughter of the airline's chairman. She
is appealing against her conviction.
Ms Kim's civil lawsuit, filed in New York City, is seeking compensation for
damage to her career, reputation and emotional wellbeing.

3. It alleges that Cho screamed obscenities and hit Ms Kim after
being served the nuts in their bag not a bowl.
Ms Kim's lawyers said that "the evidence in this case will
demonstrate that Cho's actions were not only humiliating,
degrading, and damaging to Kim, but were also emblematic
of Cho's unbridled arrogance and disturbing sense of
entitlement".
The summons also stated she was pressured to lie to
government investigators to cover up the incident and to
appear in public with Cho "as part of an orchestrated effort to
try and rehabilitate Cho's public image", reported AP.
They said the airline had not responded to Ms Kim's attempt
to settle her claim privately.
A Korean Air spokesman told the BBC that it had no
comments on Ms Kim's lawsuit.

4. Earlier reports said that after Cho was served the nuts by
Ms Kim, she summoned head steward Park Chang-jin
and confronted him about the presentation.
Mr Park said in a television interview in December that
he was forced to kneel in front of Cho, who then ordered
him off the flight.
The case opened a national debate about the Korean
business system, which is dominated by family firms
known as chaebols.
Some of the families running these businesses have
been accused of high-handedness and acting with
impunity.

5. HEADLINES
S Korea “Nut Rage” Attendant Sues
 Active sentence whereby the attendant is the
actor.
 Intransitive verb is used in the sentence. The
verb “sues” does not have an object to receive
the action.
 Ambiguity in the sentence to attract the attention
of the readers.

6. SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
SENTENCES
• News is fairly structured in a complex way and it is very
seldom to find a simple clause structure.
Example 1
“Mr Park said in a television interview in December that
he was forced to kneel in front of Cho, who then
ordered him off the flight”
Example 2
Ms Kim's lawyers said that "the evidence in this case
will demonstrate that Cho's actions were not only
humiliating, degrading, and damaging to Kim, but
were also emblematic of Cho's unbridled arrogance
and disturbing sense of entitlement".

7. Analysis of Example 1
“Mr Park said in a television interview in December
that he was forced to kneel in front of Cho, who then
ordered him off the flight”
Main clause:
Mr Park said in a television interview in December
Complementizer (link clauses and have no meaning):
that
Subordinate clause:
that he was forced to kneel in front of Cho
Relative pronoun:
who
Subordinate clause:
who then ordered him off the flight

8. “Ms Kim's lawyers said that "the evidence in this case will demonstrate that Cho's
actions were not only humiliating, degrading, and damaging to Kim, but were also
emblematic of Cho's unbridled arrogance and disturbing sense of entitlement".
Main clause:
Ms Kim’s lawyers said
Complementizer:
that
Subordinate clause:
that “the evidence in this case will demonstrate
Complementizer:
that
Subordinate clause:
that Cho’s actions were not only humiliating, degrading, and damaging to Kim
Subordinate conjunction:
but
Subordinate clause:
but were also emblematic of Cho’s unbridled arrogance
Subordinate conjunction:
and
Subordinate clause:
and disturbing sense of entitlement”
Analysis of Example 2

9. • Nevertheless, there are simple sentences
in news story; they are used to report
something that is important to be easily
understood.
Example 1
“Cho later ordered the taxiing plane to
offload another flight steward”
Example 2
“She is appealing against her
conviction.”

10. ACTIVE & PASSIVE
SENTENCE
 Active sentences are mostly used in the news
article:
“A South Korean flight attendant is suing
Korean Air and a jailed former executive in the
US over what became known as the "nut rage"
incident.”
“It alleges that Cho screamed obscenities and
hit Ms Kim after being served the nuts in their
bag not a bowl.”

11. “Some of the families running these
businesses have been accused of high-
handedness and acting with impunity.”
 Active sentences are used when the actor
is emphasized.
 Instead of giving the spotlight to the
consequences the actor has to bear, the
writer decides to let the actor receives the
attention more from the audience/ readers.

12.  However, passive sentences are used in the news
article as well, but to a lesser margin.
“Some of the families running these businesses
have been accused of high-handedness and acting
with impunity.”
“He was forced to kneel in front of Cho…”
 In these cases, the person or the thing that is being
acted on is the main priority.
 The first example displays no agent to emphasize on
‘some of the families’ rather than explaining the party
that accuses them (general public)
 The second example also showcases no agent as it is
understood in the context (agent: Cho)

13. TENSE
 Simple past
A Korean Air spokesman told the BBC that it had no
comments on Ms Kim's lawsuit.
Cho later ordered the taxiing plane to offload another
flight steward.
 Simple present
It alleges that Cho screamed obscenities and hit Ms
Kim after being served the nuts in their bag not a
bowl.

14.  Present continuous
A South Korean flight attendant is suing Korean
Air and a jailed former executive in the US over
what became known as the "nut rage" incident.
She is appealing against her conviction.
 Past perfect
Some of the families running these businesses
have been accused of high-handedness and
acting with impunity

15. NOMINALISATION
 Ms Kim's civil lawsuit, filed in New York City, is
seeking compensation for damage to her
career, reputation and emotional wellbeing.
 …but were also emblematic of Cho's unbridled
arrogance and disturbing sense of entitlement.

16. THANK YOUKHAIRUNNADIAH
LEW WENG YEW