Grammar Giggle – School Troubles

I found this while I was making our annual tax credit donation to a local school. It looks like someone was in a hurry when they were putting together the information on the page. But this is really unacceptable to me. I set a much higher standard for learning institutions that are in charge of educating citizens. Misspelling “forensics” and “educators” means 20% of the choices in that dropdown menu are wrong. In addition, based on the other choices, it seems to me that the last one circled should be “Future Problem Solvers” unless there is only one member in that group solving all of the future problems. And speaking of only one member, apparently there is only one future physician in that club or it would be “Future Physicians’ Club.”

Grammar Giggle – At Least Get His Name Right!

I came across this one as I was looking for some information. It seems that if you are talking about an important person who has spent a significant amount of time in your industry, you would try to make sure his name is correct and make sure it is spelled correctly throughout. That is important not only in journalism but in the work we do as well. The very first thing a client will notice is if their name is misspelled. Just take the time to make sure names are spelled correctly. Also, the apostrophe in the second place the name appears is unnecessary and sounds inappropriate in this article. It should say “Luongo (spelled correctly) has also . . ..”

Grammar Giggle – Social Ssecurity Nnumber

My daughter-in-law forwarded this to me. It looks to me like someone was trying to make sure each word was capitalized but forgot to delete the extra letter resulting in duplication of letters. This is a good reminder to make sure that once you go through and make edits, check it again to make sure it is actually correct.

Grammar Giggle – Hero’s

I saw this when I was recently updating some contacts. An apostrophe does not make the word “hero” plural. That would take an “es” to make it “heroes.” The only reason to use an apostrophe in this word is if something belongs to the hero, for example, “He washed the hero’s cape.”

Grammar Giggle – Wrap Sheep

My daughter sent me this breaking news story. Not only is the name of the town spelled incorrectly (it is SantA Fe), but what is a “wrap sheep”? I’m fairly certain that what they meant to say was “rap sheet,” which is defined on dictionary.com as “a record kept by law-enforcement authorities of a person’s arrests and convictions.” This one actually did make me giggle because I keep picturing a sheep in wrapping paper and a nice bow. Again, I feel like this is a result of news agencies rushing things through to be the first out with the story, but surely someone could have taken the time to proofread the headline. Take the time!

Grammar Giggle – Queen Queek

Queen Creek is a local town near me. The first picture is from a daily email I receive with headlines that you click on to get the whole story. The second is the headline from the actual story that you are directed to when you click the link in the email.

It is always important to proofread everything so that the information is correct everywhere.

Grammar Giggle – Let’s Be Sat

I saw this on a recent winery tour. The correct word should be “seated.” “Sit” (and its past tense version, “sat”) means “to be in a position of rest.” “Seated” means “arrange for someone to sit somewhere,” which is what the Hostess would do once you check in with them.

Ask PTB: Three Slashes

I had a reader ask “Question: When formatting a pleading, what is the /// called at the bottom of the page? What are the rules?” After some research, here’s what I find:

It is usually called a “slash” (or in this example, three slashes). This slash is also called “forward slash,” “diagonal,” “virgule,” or “solidus.”

In formatting a legal document, you should always leave at least two lines at the bottom and at the top of a page avoiding a single line in either place. The single lines are called widows (at the top of a page) and orphans (at the bottom of the page) and there are settings in Word to avoid that (Paragraph, Line and Page Breaks, Pagination, Widow/Orphan control). Sometimes, moving the orphans to the next page leaves a larger margin at the bottom of the page and is particularly noticeable when you are using numbered pleading paper. To avoid the reader thinking that is the end of the document, some people use the three slashes–either without space or with a space between each slash–to signal that there is more text on the next page. I typically see the slashes with spaces between each slash and on each line–with the same spacing as the document itself–on as many lines as you need to get to the last numbered line. Here is an example:

While it is not necessary and there is no rule that I find requiring it, it will depend on your firm’s preference. Using the three slashes does make it clear that there is additional language on the next page, so I see the usefulness. The caveat is to make sure that that is among the last tasks you do when finalizing a document. Otherwise, if language is deleted or moved around, the slashes could end up in the middle of a paragraph or between two paragraphs and just cause confusion, so be very careful when using them.