I went to a performance at one of my favorite Seattle theaters the other night. Attending the performance earned me the opportunity to get $5 off a ticket to a future offering. But the promotional card in the program included an error that made me laugh. Can you find it?
Find the error before scrolling down to my comments.
Yes, there are a couple of punctuation errors: In person should not be hyphenated in the second sentence. And there should be a comma before "and one of our team members" in the last sentence. But the amusing error is–did you find it?–the word backside.
I double-checked my dictionaries just to be sure I wasn't mistaken. They confirmed my understanding: Backside is an informal term for "the buttocks, the rump." Not a good place to fill out the interest form!
What should the writer have used instead of backside? Here are several choices:
Fill out the back of this sheet.
Fill out the reverse of this sheet.
Fill out the other side of this sheet.
Have you seen any funny errors recently? Please share them.
For a helpful reminder on other errors, read this blog post: Without Further Adieu.
And here's a usage test you may have missed: Usage Challenge: Can You Pick the Correct Word?
Lynn
Syntax Training