Thread:BadlyBruisedMuse/@comment-4655954-20150607232818/@comment-2253059-20150608004203

It does matter because "dropped" by itself sounds intentional. From a grammatical standpoint, "dropped" is neutral when it comes to motive, but in regards to perception, it comes off as being intentional. This is due to how the English language is structured; it strives to know who is responsible for an action, which results in English-speakers being likely to blame others for things they've done.

Both "dropped" and "fell" describe what we've seen in the footage. We see Zara fall. But "fell" has the advantage of being a verb that's almost never perceived as being intentional when used by itself. That is because when people fall, it is rarely intentional. It is completely possible to intentionally fall, but the vast majority of instances that deal with a person falling are not deliberate. It is also completely possible to accidentally drop something,. However, it is not uncommon for things to be deliberately dropped. As a result of this and the structure of the English language, readers are going to assume the Pteranodon intentionally dropped Zara when they see that verb, even though it technically doesn't indicate intent. But with "fell," they are not going assume anything because deliberately falling is so rare.

When the movie is released in less than a week and we know what caused the Pteranodon to drop Zara, then it would be acceptable use that verb. Until then, the reasons why it dropped her are still unknown and that's why it's currently better to use "fell." We do not want readers to misinterpret articles and get the wrong information; using "dropped" isn't supposed to make them believe the Pteranodon's action was deliberate, but it does make them believe that for the reasons above. And we can't specify if the act was intentional or accidental because we don't know that yet.