There are times when a contract needs to be modified for whatever reason. Perhaps there was an overlooked precaution, a modification that needs to be made on a clause, or a new member of the team who directly affects procedure. When a contract is modified, it does not necessarily...
How good are you at finding errors? The three short error quests below will test your proofreading skills and your knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and structure. Each quest contains just one error—no more, no less. Can you find it? You may be surprised at the solutions. Good luck!
Error Quest...
Do you ever have to post informal signs at work? Maybe it's to announce that an elevator is out of order or a meeting has been cancelled. Maybe it’s to direct guests to a conference room. Although informal, hundreds of people can see such signs. What impression do they...
A friend had just finished a proposal she would be presenting to a new client the next morning. After printing six copies for the people who would be at the meeting, she noticed that she had made an error in the client’s name at the top of page 1....
Reader Lionel B. Dyck has provided us with a great, weird headline to improve. It’s from “The Jerusalem Post.” Yes, newspapers are a special breed of writing, and headlines must be concise. But this one cuts so many words that it hurts my logical head. How would you clarify...
Yesterday I went on an urban hike. Climbing stairs among lush greenery, I spotted the sign below. Not again! Someone had once again printed a sign without checking on their use of apostrophes. Don’t do it! Before creating a sign or printing cards that include an apostrophe, read this...
Which error did you see most often in 2019? Was it a missing comma? A misplaced or missing apostrophe? A lack of subject-verb agreement? A word used incorrectly? The error I found most often in work projects—especially copyediting presentations and manuscripts—is described below, with one bonus error.
The error is...
Certainly we can admire Google for its growth, global reach, inventiveness, and the brilliance of its teams. But they've gone too far. Cleverness has its limits. Analyze, yes. Optimize, yes. Publicize, yes--those are all things online content providers want to do. But troubleshootize? No, Google, you've gone too far.
The...
I received a good question by email today. A reader wanted to know my views on capitalizing words that are followed by numbers or letters, for example, Step 1 vs. step 1, Section A vs. section A, and Line 2 vs. line 2. How would you decide whether to...
As someone who designed the course Proofread Like a Pro, I pay attention when a competitor offers a training program on proofreading. Today my inbox included an invitation to a session. Below is the graphic with the program title.
Proofreaders, do you see anything wrong?
Yikes! This program title contains two...
