Grammar Giggle – State of Uniom

While everyone has probably seen this one already, my son sent this to me and I thought it was interesting. Not only is “Union” spelled wrong, requiring them to reprint all of the invitations to the State of the Union Address, but I think that the Gallery is set up for more than one Visitor, so it should be the Visitors’ Gallery. I checked the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center website to try to figure out what they call it, and I find reference to “the Visitor Galleries,” which would be correct as it is a name for that area of the Capitol, and “the House and Senate Galleries,” but I find no reference to the “Visitor’s Gallery.” I’m thinking they didn’t fix that error when they reprinted the invitations because it isn’t an obvious error–to most people.

State of the Uniom

Grammar Giggle — Personalizing

I realize that most companies who personalize things make you agree, and agree again, that what you have provided to them is correct. I understand that. I just wish they wouldn’t use bad examples in their catalogs. I saw these on the cover of a personalizing company’s catalog. Besides the fact that there is no apostrophe necessary because Robert doesn’t own anything related to this sentence, I’m curious about exactly why Robert feels entitled to be called “The Robert.” If it were the Roberts Family, it should say “Party With The Roberts.” In the second example, again, there should be no apostrophe because you’re talking about the “Bishop Family Reunion.” It is the reunion of the Bishop Family and the apostrophe and “s” are unnecessary.

personalizing

Grammar Giggle – It’s Crazy That The News Station Doesn’t Know Its Language Is Wrong

Once again, I had to pause the local news, watch my husband roll his eyes, and snap a picture of this jewel. This is a common mistake because it kind of defies the rules. The possessive of “it” is “its.” The contraction of “it is” is “it’s.” I get that it is confusing, but it’s a concept that can be (and should be) learned. If you are tempted to use the apostrophe, check to make sure it is correct by substituting “it is” for “it’s.” If it doesn’t make sense (and it won’t if it’s supposed to be a possessive), then don’t use the apostrophe. An example is the sentence in this post “. . . but it’s a concept that can be . . ..” You can replace the “it’s” with “it is” in that sentence so it is correct–“. . . but it is a concept that can be . . ..”

Its

 

Grammar Giggle – What Belongs To The Harrisons?

This was a Facebook ad to entice me to order a personalized welcome mat.

Harrisons original

Unfortunately, the only thing this picture made me do was keep waiting for the rest of the statement. The Harrison’s . . . WHAT? What belongs to the Harrison? What belongs to ONE of the Harrisons? The Single Harrison’s House? The Single Harrison’s Stoop? The Single Harrison’s Porch? Get Off The Single Harrison’s Lawn? Once I clicked on the picture to save it and it took me to the actual website, this is the picture that was showing up there:Harrisons

This one is correct and renewed a little bit of my faith in the fact that someone at this retailer or the marketing company for the retailer actually knows what is correct. More discussion on this topic is at Plurals, Possessives, and Surnames Oh My!

Grammar Giggle – One Celebrity, Eight Celebrities

This was recently in my Facebook feed and caught my attention. Yes, the children belong to each celebrity, but they belong to eight different celebrities so should have been “8 Celebrities’ Children . . .” to talk about the children of eight celebrities. See the formula here.

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Grammar Giggle – A More Appropriate Conclusion

This one is from a response received in our office. Not only is the heading misspelled (because they likely have Word’s “ignore words in uppercase” option checked) but there is no apostrophe showing that the objections actually belong to the Defendants. Check your Word settings to make sure yours are set so that Word doesn’t think (incorrectly!) for you. It’s really difficult not to circle the errors with red pen and send them back.

Conlclusion

Grammar Giggle – Accessories for Whom?

I saw this in a Las Vegas shopping area last week while there for the NALS Educational Conference and I was a little confused. Does this store sell Women’s Accessories? Or are they selling accessories to one specific woman making them the Woman’s Accessories (and not selling them to anyone else)? Or are they a new accessory line designed by a person named “Woman”? It was a big sign on the outside of a store to lure you in . . . unless you are as highly disturbed as I am by mistakes that should not be on display in public places in signs that obviously cost a lot of money.

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