In today’s New York Times online, you will find a proofreading quiz, “Red Pencils Ready?” by Philip B. Corbett. Try it!
Hint: Corbett’s quiz includes one or two errors per passage. I am sharing that hint since I identified many more “errors” than The Times did. That’s because I would have simplified several passages for easier reading.
Now try my quiz below. Hint: It contains 10 errors.
The principle reason for the follow up meeting is to talk about how we will handle inquiries from the press. We are already receiving a large amount of calls from the media, and we want to insure that our statements compliment our print strategy. As a HIV-AIDS advocacy organization, we must discretely manage information and the affects of any publicity. If you receive inquiries you cannot handle, just foreword them to Britta or myself.
Did you find 10 errors? Look again. But don’t feel bad if you miss some. My Microsoft grammar and spelling checker did not find any!
Check the corrected passage below.
Corrected Passage:
The principal reason for the follow-up meeting is to talk about how we will handle inquiries from the press. We are already receiving a large number of calls from the media, and we want to ensure that our statements complement our print strategy. As an HIV-AIDS advocacy organization, we must discreetly manage information and the effects of any publicity. If you receive inquiries you cannot handle, just forward them to Britta or me.
Make sense? I’ve written about many of these errors here, but you can find the explanations all together in Clarity, Conciseness, Zing, and More.
Thanks to Marcia Yudkin for pointing me to the Times quiz.
Lynn
