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411 grammar, usage2 and style errors appear in these 23 paragraphs. Each of these intentionally-placed4 errors were5 selected with regards6 to how common7 they appear8, even in high end9 materials. The client often has no idea how week10 their11 writing maybe12, and many agencies, artists2 and Marketing Departments13 simply don’t mind their P’s14 &15 Q’s14 to insure16 the quality &15 accuracy of the written content of the pieces they produce. Their17 far more orientated18 towards19 the visual content. Project Managers13 may not miss not20 having a real writer on the project till21 someone that22 can write points out how much better it’s23 quality could (or should) have been. This tends to make the principle24 source and/or25 a26 agency look rather bad. Poor writing can cost a company its’27 image. (as well as capitol)28
I write and edit for agencies, departments2 and companies, which29 realize the ability to string words together does not make one
a writer. While30 on the surface, this particular self-promo piece focuses upon31 grammar, I also can’t over-emphasize32 how I could make you’re33 communications more stimulating, provocative2 and substantive. Considering costs and competition today, you
can not34 afford to produce boring, run of the mill35, headlines, stories, news releases, letters, speeches, publications,
ads2 or promotional materials. (I also have extensive experience in
marketing, advertising2 and public relations, too,36 which means I could provide valuable37 external prospectives37A on such communication issues as,38 strategies, objectives, tone, style, sensitivity, how you’re
perceived,39 and morale).40 Good writing involves more than being interesting, having a degree,
or being able to run a computer program. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you think I could
help you. Thank-you41 for your interest.
(Editor’s note: My Microsoft grammar checker flagged only three
of the errors.)
1 Should be Forty-one. The only time you can begin a sentence with a numeral is if
it’s a year (1999), and I don’t even like to do that because it
looks funny.
2 I can go either way on this one, but the nuts who set the current
standards for punctuation say you need a comma after the second-last
item in a series of three or more. My seventh grade English guru,
Mrs. Lamb, said we didn’t have to, and she was always right. I
think the main thing is to be consistent. Since this is a test,
and all tests have trick questions, let’s say you need a comma
and remain consistent throughout the passage.
3 Should be two. Spell out numbers less than 10.
4 Should be intentionally placed. Omit hyphens within compound modifiers that begin with words
that end in ly.
5 Should be was. Singular subject each requires singular verb.
6 It’s incorrect to add an s on regard in this case.
7 Should be commonly. Used as an adverb, the ly suffix is needed.
8 Should be it appears, since this is a subsequent reference to the singular subject
each.
9 Should be high-end. A compound modifier without an "ly-word" needs a hyphen between
the words.
10 Improper word usage. Should be weak.
11 Should be his or her because this is a reference to the singular subject client.
12 Improper word usage. Should be may be.
13 Should be marketing departments (and Project managers later on). Only capitalize the proper name of a department or
the proper name of a person’s title, unless the word begins a
sentence.
14 Should be Ps, Qs. No apostrophes are needed because they are not possessive.
15 Should be and. Don’t use ampersands in textual matter, unless the ampersand
is part of a proper name, title, or term.
16 Improper word usage. Should be ensure. Only use insure when referring to insurance.
17 Improper word usage. Should be They’re.
18 Improper word usage. Should be oriented. Orientated means facing East.
19 Should be toward. Generally, no s is preferred.
20 Eliminate the double negative. Should be may not miss having.
21 Improper word usage. Should be until or ‘til for short. The word till means to farm the land.
22 Should be who because someone refers to a person.
23 Should be the possessive its. The word it’s stands for it is.
24 Improper word usage. Should be principal. Principle is only a noun. Principal is both an adjective and a noun.
25 This one’s my pet peeve. I believe you should use or. In math class, I learned that and means both. Or means one, or the other, or both. So why would you ever have to use and/or? But I was bad in math. That’s why I’m a writer. So I could be
wrong.
26 Should be an.
27 Should be its. There’s no such word as its’.
28 Another trick question (because there’s more than one error,
and I’m bad in math and can’t count). Should read image (as well as capital). The period should follow the parentheses, since the parenthetical
phrase is part of the sentence. And capitol should be capital. A capitol is a building where the state legislature meets. But I’ll award
you 10 bonus points if you eliminated the parentheses and changed
the last part of the sentence to image, as well as capital. You see, believe it or not, I hate parentheses. I just had to
include several examples of them to show what kind of havoc they
cause when it comes to punctuation. They also break up thoughts,
so I avoid them if at all possible. But sometimes things happen,
and you have to do the best that you can.
29 Should read companies that because this sentence illustrates an obsolete usage of which. Use that in essential clauses and you can eliminate the comma, too.
30 This is one that I missed. It should read While, one the surface, because I’m told in this case that you need a comma after while for parallel structure. So I won’t take any points off for anybody
who missed it. But if you got it right, you get an extra 10.
31 Should be on instead of upon.
32 Should be overemphasize. A hyphen is not needed for most prefixes.
33 Another easy one. Should be your.
34 Should be cannot (one word).
35 Should be run-of-the-mill. When you make one word from several, there should be hyphens
to join them. This one is even in the dictionary, but I don’t
know of a spell-checker that would catch it. The moral of the
story is to rely on the good, old-fashioned dictionary. And enjoy
it. Sydney Harris made a prosperous career by writing about "Things
I Learned while Looking up Other Things."
36 Should read (I also have extensive experience in marketing, advertising, and
public relations, which means. Or, I guess it could be, (I have extensive experience in marketing, advertising, and
public relations, too, which means. The point is, also and too are redundant. You don’t need both. Use one or the other. But
if you changed the too to to or two, you lose 100 points.
37 I think you need a comma between valuable and external. Should read valuable, external.
37A (an insert) More evidence that I can’t count. Improper word usage. Should
be perspectives.
38 Don’t need a comma after as. Should read as strategies,.
39 Inconsistent list caused by how you’re perceived. If you change how you’re perceived to perceptions, the list is consistent. I spend a great deal of time making
consistent lists out of inconsistent lists.
40 If a complete sentence falls inside the parentheses, so should
the period. End of sentence should read morale.).
41 Should read Thank you. No hyphen is used when thank is used as a verb.
(Editor’s note: Whew…Feeling nauseous? Sort of carsick? Headache,
too? That’s why you ought to hire a nerd like me who's developed
an immunity to stuff like this. Again, thanks for putting up with
me.)
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