After teaching for about 17 years, I found I am addicted to correcting peoples grammar, spelling and punctuation, as captured in this blog.
I like collecting signs and adds that should have gone through the final step of editing before being published.
The first ad was on craigslist.
*****
grate deal – $600 (poulsbo)
its grate you will have fun all dishes in clouded and new coshons and lots of extras call shawn at 360)xxx-xxxx
*****
Either some kid was trying to sell his Dad’s camper or some Dad should have study his kid’s spelling words.
It took me a few read-throughs, to understand that dishes were “included” and were not in heavenly vapors. I don’t care about the new cushions, I was hoping he’d throw in the truck.
This second one is compliments of my friend, Mr. Timmy on Facebook.
I just noticed it says CONSUMER instead of CUSTOMER.
Do you think that is more appropriate since this was posted at a restaurant?
Speaking of errors, didja’ catch my errors in the post?
Don’t count the mistakes from the ad, which is in boldface.
Lemme’ know if you passed my little
Ah yes, the Oxford comma, subject of many an English Nerd debate. 🙂
Okay, I'm so disappointed. I was all set to find the most mistakes until I read John's comments. He found them all first!Although I can make one correction: the comma after spelling is optional — a list of items should be separated by commas but the last two that are separated by and/or do not need an additional comma (the comma is not wrong if you choose to use it)
You're welcome. 🙂 I can't say that I know of a hard and fast rule; I wrote a Note for the Iowa Law Review that referenced Craigslist in which I capitalized it. I believe I did have that discussion with my fellow editors, but I'm not sure why we settled on capitalizing it as opposed to going with lowercase.I started blogging, and then quit when my work picked up. I'm hoping that either work will slow down or that I'll be able to make time to continue it. I definitely have respect for persons like yourself who can crank out regular installments! 🙂
Yea, John, didn't know you blogged!You found the verb conjugation error – whoo hoo! them be my favorite. You founded the missing comma for the appositive, Mr. Timmy. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard leaving that one out, but I had to.You also caught that I said in the blog, I was excluding the title.Yea, the Dad's, I know the rule, but I always capitalize Mom and Dad on my blog in any way, shape or form. Trying to promote respect for the God-given position, but yes, you were SO right!Loved the semicolon idea and loved the facebook/craigslist thing. That confuses me. The names aren't capitlized, like e.e.cummings, yet it goes against my grain to NOT capitalize. What do you think is the RULE other than consistency?Thanks for participating!
I actually found ten.First, "peoples" needs an apostrophe.Second, you need a space after the comma in "grammar,spelling."Third, "adds" should be "ads."Fourth, "his Dad's" should be lowercase.Fifth, "some Dad" should be lowercase.Sixth, the verb in "should have study" needs to be conjugated, changing it to "should have studied."Seventh, there should not be a comma after "read-throughs." (Though I hate addressing commas, because to some extent they're a matter of personal discretion.)Eighth, a comma is probably not a strong enough connector between your not caring about the new cushions and hoping the seller would throw in the truck. A semicolon would likely be a better choice, as the two sentences are related yet distinct.Ninth, you either need to remove the comma in "my friend, Mr. Timmy on Facebook" or add a comma after "Mr. Timmy"; the former is appropriate if you have many friends on Facebook, the latter if you only have him. My apologies if your friend's name is actually "Mr. Timmy on Facebook," in which case allow me to humbly change my edit to a "stet."Tenth, you need internal consistency on your treatment of website names; they should either all be capitalized (i.e., "Craigslist" and "Facebook") or all be lowercase.I'm not including any errors from "Speaking of errors" onward, since you invited critique of the "above post" alone.Thanks for the little distraction – now I have to go back to doing this professionally! 🙂
Yes, grammer (grammar), punctuashun (punctuation), peoples (shoud be peoples'), add (ad), and there should not be a space between "captured" and "in."
Love it. Yes, I caught the mistakes, so why cant I catch my own??? I recently got back a manuscript from an editor and I was humiliated at all the comma errors. After editing them all, I think I am learning where and where not to put, them, you, know.
Joyfull! Way to go! You got almost all of them.*there shouldn't be a comma after read-throughs *should be a comma after Mr. TimmyThanks for participating, ladies!!!Dana, I've tried a lot of spelling curriculums, read articles about spelling from homeschool and public sources (I was an elem. ed major) and basically they all have come to this conclusion – either you can spell, or you can't. 🙂 The kids that can't spell can improve their spelling, but they will never rise to the level of competence and confidence as their natural spellers. When I blog, I leave tab open for dictionary.com!
Wow Mindy, you even got a request to do a review for a product from this blog! That's awesome! Hilarious camper offer! It rather matches the look of the camper.
I was happy to discover your blog today. I was unable to find a contact link. I hope it's OK that I'm contacting you through a public comment. I've developed an educational program for Windows called SpellQuizzer that helps children learn their spelling and vocabulary words without the battle that parents often have getting them to sit down and write them out while the parents dictate to them. The parent enters the child's spelling words into the software making a sound recording of each word. Then the software helps the child practice his or her words. It really helped my children with their weekly spelling lists. I would appreciate your reviewing SpellQuizzer in Momma Mindy's Moments. If you are interested in hosting a giveaway of a SpellQuizzer license I'd be happy to supply a free license to the winner. You can learn more about the program at http://www.SpellQuizzer.com. There's a video demo you can watch at http://www.spellquizzer.com/SpellQuizzer-Demo.htm and a community site where SpellQuizzer users can share their spelling lists with one another (www.SpellQuizzer.com/Community). Finally, there's a page targeted to homeschooling families at http://www.spellquizzer.com/spelling-software-for-homeschoolers.htm. I'd be happy to send you a complimentary license for the software. Please let me know if you are interested.Thank you very much!Dan HiteTedCo [email protected]
I got them – when I found the first one I suspected it was on purpose =) I always find grammatical errors but I struggle still with spelling, much to Mom "The Walking Dictionary's" chagrin.
OOHH!! I love a challenge like this! I worked as a church secretary for several years doing print publications for a perfectionist pastor! Much learning went on and now I found myself wtih a keen eye for errors. Just need to match that wtih some grace!!Did I get this right?1. spelling error – grammer2. spelling error – punctuashun3. peoples needs a '4. no space in between words5. adds for adsThanks for such a fun post!
I caught some, but not all. 🙂
You are such a kick! 🙂 Thanks for your encouraging comment on my blog, I look forward to following your adventures too! 🙂 ps. my mom is a third grade teacher, and although its been 6 years since I was at home, and my younger sister is a freshman in high school–my mom finds misspellings all over too! Its so funny! We've taken pictures next to jamba juice advertisements that spelt something wrong, and We'd e-mail it in to the company. LOL! Teachers are the best, so much fun! 🙂