"Something Went Horribly Wrong” features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Segment 7: Lightning Bugs, Part Two
Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
Readers: Here are more examples in which the writer used almost the right word, and missed altogether.
1. Cities like Austin, Texas, are using some creativity and helping families find new ways to celebrate.
“Like” means “similar to.” Not “including.” Austin cannot be a city like Austin. Sacramento is a city like Austin. You want to say “a city such as Austin.”
2. He was feeling badly that his wife’s surgery was going bad..
You “feel badly” if you lose sensation in your fingers. The rest of the time, you feel bad that the surgery is going badly.
3. The embattled governor’s staff became beleaguered.
“Beleaguered” means beset. “Embattled” does not. It means to be prepared for battle.
4. Flags will fly at half-mast today in honor of the late mayor
No. “Half-mast” for ships. “Half-staff” for buildings. Early in his career, Eliot regularly got this wrong, and Lou Ann would have to fix it.
5. First annual pageant
For now, you don’t know whether there will be a second annual. So just say something such as, “the pageant, whose organizers hope will be an annual event.”
6. Families are wracking their brains out to plan for holiday gatherings.
Racking. And not “racking out.” “To go to wrack and ruin” means to fall into a state of decay or destruction, so the optics of people “wracking their brains out” is pretty horrific.
7. A search is underway for a possible sailor overboard.
A possible sailor went overboard? We’re guessing he definitely was a sailor. How about “a sailor possibly overboard.”
8. The program will pump 6 to 9 million dollars into new construction.
It’s actually 6 million to 9 million. We’re guessing the number didn’t start with six dollars.
9. NASA is launching a telescope and a balloon the size of a football stadium into the stratosphere so researchers can study the formation of stars. The telescope, named ASTHROS, measures at 8.4 feet and the balloon carrying the device is 400 feet wide.
At 400 feet, it's longer than a football FIELD. If it was the size of a football stadium, we'd like to see a rocket get it off the ground.
10. "The murder-for-hire trial of a slain Florida State university professor came to an end Friday afternoon with a guilty verdict..."
Bad enough he was dead. Then his corpse has to go on trial for his own murder!
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/y_fMjkAs1i4
Next time: Clichés. Avoid ‘em like the plague.
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
Cattle and dairy cows can be grass-fed. Beef and milk aren’t fed. How about “We believe happy grassfed cows make the best milk.”
This horrible, and common, misuse of comma-separated phrases will be the subject of a future segment. It needs to be, “One ton of paper consumes 17 trees and three cubic yards of landfill space and pollutes 7,000 gallons of water.”
Cliché alert!
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Segment 6: Lightning Bugs
Readers: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. It's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” — Mark Twain
1. Make sure you lie down newspapers before you let the puppy lay down.
People probably get “lay-lie” wrong more than anything. “Lay” is an active verb. You lay down newspapers. Then the dog can lie down.
2. I could care less.
Does anyone spend even a millisecond thinking about this before it leaves his mouth? You could NOT care less.
3. I can’t hardly wait.
Teenagers can get away with this. You should know better. Say, “I can hardly wait.”
4. Fifteen troops were killed.
A “troop” is a unit. It’s not a soldier.
5. Try and get the football tickets.
If you try and get the tickets, you have succeeded. Correct is “Try to.” (NOTE: The Brits use “try and.” But they also add a “U” to honor and color. That’s the real reason we fought the Revolution.)
6. The person was so anti-Christ, you’d think he was the Antichrist.
The first one just means the person doesn’t like Christianity. The second one means he’s the bad guy whose arrival Christians have been fearing.
7. The federal government includes three branches: legislative, judicial and executive.
“Includes” suggests parts of a larger group. The NFL includes the Kansas City Chiefs. Your marriage doesn’t include two people; that would suggest a third person, or more. If the federal government had five branches, “includes” would be OK. It has just the three. Say, the government “comprises three branches” or “consists of three branches.” (And you’ll also be using “comprise” correctly.)
8. I pulled my mobile home into a trailer park.
A mobile home is a house that can be moved from one permanent place to another. A trailer is on wheels and attaches to the back of a vehicle and heads down the highway. Trailer parks often are for overnight stays.
9. The prisoner got both parole and probation.
Probation is a set period of community supervision imposed by the court in lieu of a prison sentence. Parole is a period of community supervision imposed after release from a prison sentence.
10. You can persuade me that John’s a great guy, but you’ll never convince me to vote for him
Wrong. “Convince” means to get someone to make up her mind about a subject. “Persuade” means to convince her to do something about it
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/JGjKpRcB6aU
Next time: More lightning bugs
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
Beginners’ Guide…
Congratulations. You made it!
(Submitted by Margaret Vogel)
Did he commit the murder in the attic or get caught in the attic? (It was the latter)
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com.
NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!
Segment 5: Homophones
Readers: A homophone is a word that can sound the same but be spelled differently and have a different meaning. And how.
1. I ate a big bowl of chile, loaded with chile peppers, when I flew down to the beautiful nation of Chili.
Chile is the country. The pepper is a chili; plural chilies. The dish is chili in the U.S., chile in Spanish culture.
2. A highlight of Atlanta, capitol of Georgia, is the gold-covered capital dome.
Capital is the city. Capitol is the building.
3. The navel academy’s midshipmen threw naval oranges at the West Point cadets.
Gaze peacefully at your belly button, grasshopper, and you will know the answer. It’s your navel. The Middies are naval.
4. I was buying a discrete sound stereo system with stolen money, so I had to be discreet.
The way we wrote it is correct. “Discrete” means separate and distinct. “Discreet” means careful and judicious.
5. My caramelized onions complimented the steaks and drew complements from my guests.
Switch compliments/complements.
6. The school principle said the suspension was proper, saying it was the principal of the thing.
Switch principal/principle.
7. She wrote her “Dear John” note on her best stationary, while riding a stationery bicycle.
Paper for writing is stationery. It’s a stationary bike.
8. The medicine has no side affects. We except credit cards.
No side effects.” “We accept.”
9. The president of the university made an illusion to the allusion of prosperity.
Say he “alluded to the illusion” and you see where you goofed.
10. The refugees immigrated from Syria and emigrated to France.
“Emigrate” is going out. “Immigrate” is going in.
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/8fp0P4ZIK00
Next time: The difference between lightning and lightning bugs
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Segment 4: Oxymorons for morons
Readers: Because our language is not perfect, words have, for a variety of reasons, become twisted so that people now use them in ways different or even opposite from their intended meaning. Each of these sentences uses the word wrong at least once, and sometimes both times. Remember, it’s all about clarity! If people aren’t sure what you mean, you have failed as a communicator.
1. Denny’s impacted tooth impacted his quality of life.
The impacted tooth is OK. But repeat after us: “Impact is not a verb. Impact is not a verb. Impact is not a verb!” OK, the dictionary disagrees, but trust us. It’s jargon.
2. The immigrants gazed hopefully toward America. Hopefully, they got there. Later, the immigrants thankfully kissed the ground. Thankfully, they’d survived the dangerous journey.
These are all-star goofs. In both cases, the first reference is wrong. While you can hopefully look toward America, “hopefully” does NOT mean “It’s hoped that…” And you can thankfully kiss the ground, but “thankfully” does not mean the world is thankful.
3. The train will be stopping momentarily, but it will be stopping momentarily.
“Momentarily” means “for a moment,” not “in a moment.” If your plane is landing “momentarily,” that’s bad! “Wait,” you say. “Context makes this clear.” Not always. In the example we gave, you’re not sure whether you’re being told that the train is about to stop, or that the stop will be brief. Important if that’s your stop.
4. Hollywood director Spike Jones filmed the debate live, but also filmed it.
It can be argued “film” has gone the way of “dialing the phone.” No one physically turns a dial on a phone anymore, so the evolution of that word isn’t a problem. But “filming” refers to recording something on actual film, and some people still are doing that. “Taped” no longer works either as a colloquial, since virtually nothing is recorded on magnetic tape, but, rather, on memory cards. Say, “recorded” or “shot.” You certainly don’t film something live. You broadcast or stream it live.
5. Make sure you have plenty of funds in your fund.
A fund is a bank account. Money is not “funds.”
6. I finished my dentist's appointment and made an appointment for my next appointment.
Your visit to the doctor is not an appointment. It’s a visit. An appointment is something you mark in your calendar. Substitute “reservation” for “appointment” and you see how it doesn’t work.
7. Police will not identify the person killed in the crash, although they have identified him.
Don’t say police haven’t identified the person. Unless they say otherwise, they know exactly who it is. They just, for whatever reason, don’t want to tell the public yet. Say, “Police will not name the person killed in the crash.”
8 The deadly bomb caused a deadly explosion.
“Deadly” means having the potential to kill. A missile heading toward a plane is deadly, but a plane crash isn’t deadly. No potential to speak of. It already happened.
9. Falling between the cracks.
Besides being another brutal cliché, it’s wrong. Things fall through the cracks. The part between the cracks is the floor. Nothing will fall through that.
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/_2-c0SVy67w
Next time: Homophones
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Photo by Chris Boyer on Unsplash
Segment 3: Write like it’s a telegram
Readers: Before everyone could afford a phone, and when phone calls across the country incurred a hefty “long-distance” charge, you sent a telegram. Early in the lifetimes of the Horribly Wrong team, some people still went to clerks who literally did the dot-dot-dash in the old Morse code that dates to the Civil War. Because this was labor-intensive, you paid by the word. It got expensive!
When we coach young writers, we tell them to pretend they are paying by the word. Or that their editor gave them a word limit. So, if they use enough unnecessary words, they run out of their allotment and have to leave out some important facts. An even better analogy is the soup rule. You’ve made a delicious soup. You want to feed more people. You add water. There’s more soup, but it’s not as good. Using unnecessary words is a form of cowardly writing. Be brave!
Each of these phrases could lose some words. When you’re done, you just might have saved enough money for a latte.
1. “I turned around and said, ‘You need to turn your life around.’”
“I said, ‘You need to turn your life around.’”
2. “Go ahead and buy the dress.”
“Buy the dress.”
3. “He fell off of the bed.”“
“He fell off the bed.”
4. “We’re making our initial/final descent into Pittsburgh.”
When was the last time you were on a plane that descended more than once? It happens, but rarely, and it’s usually bad. Just say, “We’re making our descent.”
5. “At this point in time.”
“Now.”
6. “…the West Palm Beach Police Department announced Thursday.”“
“…West Palm Beach police announced” (unless the story specifically is about the workings of the department)
7. “Going forward, we’ll be reducing staff size.”
“We’ll be reducing staff size.” Or better, “We’ll be reducing staff.” See, you just saved another word.
8. “At the end of the day, we just couldn’t do it.”
“We just couldn’t do it.”
9. “When all is said and done, we need this deal.”
“We need this deal.”
10. “The fact of the matter is the proposal is terrible.”
“The proposal is terrible.”
11. “I’d like to thank you for all your hard work.”
“I want to thank you for all your hard work.”
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
12. There are three men in the room.
“Three men are in the room.”
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/O2IlgufaFnA
Next time: Oxymorons. For morons.
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
From the mailbag:
“I’ve always taken note of those (redundancies) built into acronyms. Take these hall of fame examples: SSN Number. ATM Machine. PIN Number.” — Alan Gross, Jacksonville, Fla.
(SSN: Social Security Number. ATM: Automatic Teller Machine. PIN: Personal Identification Number.)
"Something Went Horribly Wrong” features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Segment 2: Redundancies and unnecessary words, Part Two
Readers: Here are more words that just use up valuable space and make your writing at best wordy and at worst wrong.
1. The bar is located at Third and Main, Chula Vista, CA 91911.
“Located” is an active verb. If you’re saying you drove around the neighborhood until you located the bar, that’s OK. Otherwise, just say, “The bar is at Third and Main in Chula Vista.” You already know Chula Vista is in California, and unless you're planning to mail the bar a letter, you don't need the ZIP code. In some cases, when the town is known, you can save even more words by saying only, “The bar is at Third and Main.”
2. Hot water heater
This is one of our favorite goofs. It’s not a hot water heater! It’s just a water heater! It doesn’t heat hot water! Actually, it heats cold water!
3. Convicted felon; ex-felon; ex-convict
If you’re a felon, you already are convicted. And you never are an ex-felon or an ex-convict (unless your original conviction is overturned). What the writer probably intended is that the person was an ex-inmate or ex-prisoner.
4. Eyewitness
Just ”witness.” The eye thing is presumed.
5. Pickup truck.
Also one of our favorite goofs. A pickup is a type of truck. You wouldn’t say “a sedan car” or “a yacht boat.” Just say pickup. Really. You can.
6. Rio Grande River.
“Rio Grande” is Spanish for “big river.” So you’re saying “Big river river.”
7. Tuna fish.
Steak beef. Chicken poultry. Zucchini vegetable. Coffee beverage. Now don’t you feel stupid about all the times you’ve said, “tuna fish?”
8. Blazing inferno
What else would an inferno be doing?
9. Met in person. Met face-to-face.
You are presumed to meet in person unless you specify that you met by phone or FaceTime.
10. The thieves fled on foot.
Unless you mention a car, people are presumed to flee on foot. Just say they “ran off,” or “ran away,” or just “ran.”
11. Writhed on the ground. Writhed in pain.
You can’t writhe standing up. And some squirm and contort on the ground for reasons other than pain, such as nausea, or grief, but pain is the presumed reason unless otherwise specified.
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/SdkxCZmQrNU
Next time: Write like you’re paying by the word
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
From the Grammar Police
Take a look at these grammar goofs:
Next time: More redundant redundancies
Segment 1: Redundancies for Dunces. And words you just don’t need.
Readers: People who add unnecessary words, in order to add emphasis, are what the Horribly Wrong team bluntly calls “cowardly writers.” They’re paranoid that they haven’t made their point. An extra word rarely means better writing. A series of powerful and brief sentences is all the impact you need. Be brave!
1. $500 dollars
This literally says, “Five hundred dollars dollars.”
2. 8 a.m. in the morning
“8 a.m.” Or, “8 in the morning.” Not both.
3. At 12 midnight. At 12 noon.
Just “midnight” or “noon.”
4. Whether or not
Just “whether.”
5. Each and every
Same thing. Really. It is. Look at it.
6. First and foremost
Same thing.
7. Rules and regulations
They are different in only the most technical ways. For your purposes, they’re the same thing.
8. Residential neighborhood
What other kind of neighborhood is there?
9. Strangled to death
Strangled presumes death.
10. Fatally drowned
“Drowned” presumes death. (“Was drowned” implies murder)
11. Completely destroyed
“Destroyed” presumes complete destruction, unless modified by “partly” or “partially.”
12. Trained professional
If you’re being paid, you got trained to some extent. For that matter, even amateurs and volunteers get at least some training. Redundant!
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/UCj0VGJdlP0
Next time: More redundant redundancies
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash
Introduction
A king told his trusty squire: "Go down to the dungeon and kill James and Guinevere’s son. Get this right or you lose your head as well.”
How many people does the squire kill?
Are you sure?
Good writing is about clarity. Very few of you will write for a living. But all of you need to know how to write. You don’t necessarily have to be a great writer. But you really should be a correct writer.
And so we introduce “Something Went Horribly Wrong.”
In case you didn’t figure it out, the phrase is a cliché. One that’s been so overused it’s become farce.
In this feature, we will show you more clichés, plus grammatical errors, redundancies, oxymorons, and goofs of history and geography. We suspect you will groan when you recognize mistakes you’ve made.
The explosion of social media, emails, and texting should have made everyone, through practice, better writers. Instead, people invited shortcuts and celebrated bad writing. The result is the dumbing down we see today.
Perhaps you can get away with it on Facebook. But a company memo that goes on too long and is unintelligible, or is filled with inappropriate language that gets you in trouble with the boss, is doing your career no favors. And an ad that has a grammatical mistake a third-grader wouldn’t make isn’t good for business. It just might turn off customers.
And don’t even start with the comma that cost an airplane maker $70 million! (That’s for a future segment.)
“But wait!” you will say. “Who are you to tell me I have to get it right? There’s no grammar police, fining me for getting something wrong.”
You’re correct. But, we would proffer this: Every day you make decisions that affect how people judge you.
Imagine attending a black-tie affair in a tuxedo, but with orange socks. Or coming to work in shorts.
“Well!” you say. “I’d never do that in a million years.” We say, “Why not? There’s no fashion police.” You say, “It would make me look stupid.”
Aha!
So, you won’t wear orange socks with a tux or come to work in shorts. But you do write, “Lay down by the television.” Or you order up a doormat that reads, “The Wilson’s.” Or you invite us over this weekend to meet Jim and Nancy’s son and leave us scratching our heads as to whether we’ll be meeting one person or two.
“Horribly Wrong” is the work of two recent retirees of the Palm Beach Post newspaper.
Photo by Laura Thonne on Unsplash
Photo: DaValle Fine Art
The writer is Eliot Kleinberg, a veteran of more than four decades as a newspaper and broadcast reporter, most of it in South Florida. His Florida history column runs in two dozen newspapers. He also is the author of a dozen books.
The brains, the guru, and the one-person rules committee is Lou Ann Frala, who over the same period was a copy editor extraordinaire, catching all the mistakes reporters make and saving many a career. Including Eliot’s!
Lou Ann relies on the most prestigious references for grammar, information, and something we in the business call “style,” a set of standards that ensures a publication’s use of words and phrases is consistent. We’ll explain that farther — sorry, further — in a future segment.
While writing has rules, they were written by people, and language is a living thing. So, rules will change, and not always for the better. (We still “dial” our phone.) Our feature allows for discussion, and we suspect one or more professors, students, authors or journalists will challenge us. Bring it on! The intercourse — of ideas, not what you’re thinking — makes all of us better writers. (Whoops. We almost said, “Makes us all better writers.” Wrong!)
The only rule for comments, is civility. Unlike other rules, that’s an absolute. And at our discretion. Any profanity, personal attack, or — shudder — introduction of politics will get you blocked from commenting.
And, of course, we crave questions, as well as suggestions for future segments. That’s how we’ll keep this feature going.
We’re not the only feature trying to teach proper writing. Many good ones are on the internet, and if you’ve found one that’s helping you, that’s fine. We don’t care who weans you off those orange socks.
Just remember that we are hating the sin but loving the sinner. Our goal is to make the world a better place through proper writing. And have some fun. Many of the goofs are pretty funny.
So check us out for the latest installment of examples of writing that will make you laugh, shudder, roll your eyes, or tense with the realization when you recognize something you have done. (Should there be a comma after “eyes”? That’s for another column.)
See below to sign up for comments.
NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!
Next Time: Redundant redundancies