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Confused?
There's a lot of bad writing around. Sometimes it is just annoying. But often it is unclear, confusing, or downright misleading.
A sign in the Post Office reads, Motor licence renewals only at Counter 5. Does it mean that Counter 5 deals only with vehicle licences, and I can’t buy stamps there? Or does it mean that licences can be renewed only at Counter 5, not at Counters 1 to 4?
For many of us who speak and write in English — whether it is our mother tongue, or a second or third language we have had to learn — it's often hard to know how to get it right.
When should I use it’s rather than its?
Even professional signwriters don't always get it right . . .
A sign in the parking lot outside a shopping centre read: "Parking Strickly for Restaurant's Only". Well, at least they got "parking", "for" and "only" right -- and the sign was corrected a month or two later...
Some people seem determined to confuse us with their complicated sentences and long words.
What pedagogical routes are open to us at this point in time to construct abbreviated alternatives to verbose and obtuse syntactic expressions? (In other words, how can we learn to write in plain, clear language?)
Often we aren't even aware that we're not quite getting it right, or that we're using clichés.
Is it wrong to say At this point in time, or Let me repeat that again, or For an example, or I'll avail myself for your meeting?
Let WriteRight Editing© clear up the confusion . . .
© WriteRight Editing 2006
Last updated 21 April 2009
Design by Cyril Pink Frog WTP