Advertising Is A Fun Source For Grammatical Errors
Magazines and flyers are constant sources of grammatical errors.
Here are a few examples of what I found in the ads populating a recent Madison's DollarsandSense coupon flyer.
These examples are good reminders to pay attention to your writing! 1.
Ad for ChoreCare Original text: "All jobs & work is customized to meet your needs.
" Commentary: Jobs & work are two things and the verb should therefore be plural.
Correction: All jobs & work are customized to meet your needs.
This error is very common and I find myself making it more often than I'd like to admit.
I wrote an article regarding the improvement to one of my client's resumes: "The other bullets show his success on both the artistic and strategic side of marketing.
" I quickly caught my error and changed "side" to "sides," since I was talking about two sides - plural! What makes this one slippery is that in speech, we often do not distinguish between the singular and plural in situations such as the ones above.
I see this as another example of purist vs.
progressive language.
Whether you are a purist or a progressive on this one, I encourage you to pay attention and make a choice, rather than make a blind potential error.
Please share if you find yourself challenged by this issue! 2.
Ad for Mother Nature's Diaper Service, Inc.
Original text: "Reserve a Pre-birth Delivery Date Today!" Commentary: Is this line an intentional joke? It seems the writers might be unaware that they have made a pun on "Delivery Date.
" How can there be a pre-birth delivery [of a baby]? OH...
a *diaper* delivery.
I get it.
Is it just me, or does pre-birth remind you of afterbirth (the placenta and fetal membranes that are normally expelled from the uterus after the birth of the baby) - now that's something I don't want delivered to my door! I just don't like the phrase "Pre-birth Delivery" at all, even if it was intended to be clever, which I'm not convinced it was.
My suggested correction: Reserve a Diaper Delivery Date Today! Now that's cute, and it plays well on the word "Delivery" without being downright perplexing.
3.
Ad for Sierra Concepts, LLC Basement Waterproofing Specialists Original text: "$50 OFF Crack Injections" Commentary: I realize "crack injection" is a trade term, but really! Am I the only one who immediately calls up an image of desolate streets and needles and crazed looking drug addicts? My suggested correction: $50 OFF Basement Crack Repair.
Boring, maybe.
But it gets the point across safely.
Here are a few examples of what I found in the ads populating a recent Madison's DollarsandSense coupon flyer.
These examples are good reminders to pay attention to your writing! 1.
Ad for ChoreCare Original text: "All jobs & work is customized to meet your needs.
" Commentary: Jobs & work are two things and the verb should therefore be plural.
Correction: All jobs & work are customized to meet your needs.
This error is very common and I find myself making it more often than I'd like to admit.
I wrote an article regarding the improvement to one of my client's resumes: "The other bullets show his success on both the artistic and strategic side of marketing.
" I quickly caught my error and changed "side" to "sides," since I was talking about two sides - plural! What makes this one slippery is that in speech, we often do not distinguish between the singular and plural in situations such as the ones above.
I see this as another example of purist vs.
progressive language.
Whether you are a purist or a progressive on this one, I encourage you to pay attention and make a choice, rather than make a blind potential error.
Please share if you find yourself challenged by this issue! 2.
Ad for Mother Nature's Diaper Service, Inc.
Original text: "Reserve a Pre-birth Delivery Date Today!" Commentary: Is this line an intentional joke? It seems the writers might be unaware that they have made a pun on "Delivery Date.
" How can there be a pre-birth delivery [of a baby]? OH...
a *diaper* delivery.
I get it.
Is it just me, or does pre-birth remind you of afterbirth (the placenta and fetal membranes that are normally expelled from the uterus after the birth of the baby) - now that's something I don't want delivered to my door! I just don't like the phrase "Pre-birth Delivery" at all, even if it was intended to be clever, which I'm not convinced it was.
My suggested correction: Reserve a Diaper Delivery Date Today! Now that's cute, and it plays well on the word "Delivery" without being downright perplexing.
3.
Ad for Sierra Concepts, LLC Basement Waterproofing Specialists Original text: "$50 OFF Crack Injections" Commentary: I realize "crack injection" is a trade term, but really! Am I the only one who immediately calls up an image of desolate streets and needles and crazed looking drug addicts? My suggested correction: $50 OFF Basement Crack Repair.
Boring, maybe.
But it gets the point across safely.
Source...