by Carolynn Carey
I recently read an article by a guest columnist in an online newsletter distributed by a national publication. The author did not pretend to be a professional writer. However, her numerous errors were so basic that I was left wondering if she’d even graduated from high school.
I know that sounds harsh, but there were mistakes in every sentence of her article except the first. Many of her errors were related to the incorrect use of apostrophes. She didn’t appear to understand that plural possessives and singular possessives should be handled differently, nor did she seem to know that “it’s” is a contraction rather than a possessive pronoun.
In addition to a comma splice, she made punctuation errors I’ve never seen before, and I’ve seen a lot. Those errors included duplicate periods ending sentences and ellipses dropped into sentences for no discernable reason.
So how does such a sloppy example of writing end up being distributed to thousands of readers? I’m assuming the guest columnist didn’t ask anyone to look over the piece before it went online. Still, somewhere along the way, someone associated with the publication should have edited this article. To send it out riddled with errors that signal inadequate knowledge of the language by the writer and lack of oversight by the publication is an insult to the reader.
{ 2 comments }
ARRRRGH. I keep seeing “your” when the writer means “you’re” (you are) and it drives me nuts. Yes, people make typographical errors, but there’s no excuse for repeated mistakes. I agree that someone should have caught the goofs, but I also think the original writer is the one who really must take responsibility. And don’t blame spell check!
I agree, Sandra. Similarly, people confuse whose and who’s. Contractions are not that difficult to understand!