From my BBC mail:

[Fazzu]

A mother has speaks of her loss after the body of a 48-year-old man and a 15-month-old boy are found.

"A mother has something to tell of her loss after the body of a 48-year-old man..." --- Am I correct in understanding the sentence?

"are" -- Why is it 'are' and not 'were'?

"48-year-old" --- Why are there hyphens in the phrase?

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by Fazzu

A mother has speaks of her loss after the body of a 48-year-old man and a 15-month-old boy are found.
"A mother has something to tell of her loss after the body of a 48-year-old man..." --- Am I correct in understanding the sentence?
"are" -- Why is it 'are' and not 'were'?
"48-year-old" --- Why are there hyphens in the phrase?

Your interpretation is correct, but the sentence is wrong. It must either be 'A mother HAS SPOKEN of her loss...' or 'A mother SPEAKS of her loss...' - 'A mother has speaks...' is an impossible construction in English.

As the verb 'are' is used later in the sentence, the first phrase must agree in tense with it, so 'A mother SPEAKS of her loss...' is the only correct version.

There are hyphens in '48-year-old' because it is a compound adjective modifying the noun 'man'.

[Fazzu]

I understand about the hypen and about my interpretation.Thanks.
But I don't understand:

Originally Posted by Coffa

As the verb 'are' is used later in the sentence, the first phrase must agree in tense with it, so 'A mother SPEAKS of her loss...' is the only correct version.

Are you trying to say that the sentence "A mother has speaks.." is wrong?

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by Fazzu

I understand about the hypen and about my interpretation.Thanks.
But I don't understand:
Are you trying to say that the sentence "A mother has speaks.." is wrong?

Yes. It's wrong.

[Fazzu]

Oh thanks Coffa.So,some typo in typing out the texts I guess.Actually I knew it would be wrong.Thanks again for the confirmation.