Welcome back to the Grammar Cop’s hangout, where we share the boo-boos of the week that we have come across. Today’s little assortment is brought to you by the letter ‘P’ as in Proofreading! Please do it!
- From THE SUBURBAN, our local weekly (and prolific – though wholly unintentional – supplier of material for this blog): “I know that our work … will improve the lives of Canadians by developing stronger partnerships amoung our communities.” Yes, I know that “amoung” might just be a mere typo. But you know what? It’s among the worst I’ve seen. It’s just too ugly to ignore!
- From SALON.COM, an otherwise respectable online magazine: “In a candid and often funny interview …, the recently retired Speaker of the House John Boehner let’s everyone know how…” Okay. Let’s review this: LET’S is short for LET US. Therefore the use of it in this quoted sentence is wrong. It should simply be lets, which is the third-person singular form of the verb, let – which is what you need here. That apostrophe has got to go!
- Back to THE SUBURBAN again: “Without its technological discoveries, we could not have perfected cellphones, personal computers and the entire gambit of communication and information hardware and software that have…” Nope, not so fast. The word “gambit” means, according to the Free Dictionary: “A maneuver, stratagem, or opening remark, especially one intended to bring about a desired result.” It is not to be confused with gamut – defined as “a complete range or extent” – which is obviously the meaning that had been intended here.
And that is the entire gamut of gaffes for today. Thanks for reading, and let’s meet again next Friday!
Crossed Eyes and Dotted Tees 
My eyesight is not good enough for your post. I couldn’t see the apostrophe in your last sentence. You are amazing to catch spelling errors. A few will catch my eye, but I mostly skim over them. I would never have seen “amoung” if you hadn’t pointed it out.
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Yikes, sorry about your eyesight, Anne! It’s true too that we often just skip over small errors – our brains compensate for blips that way. But I’ve had a lot of experience as a freelance editor and proofreader, so they just jump right out at me! (Except my own! I sometimes miss those!) 😀
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I had a good laugh at the sentence, “That apostrophe has got to go!” I completely agree, and yet there are some who would object to the whole ‘has got’ thang. 😀
And really, we must give kudos to the Suburban on that last example for at least getting the right ‘its’! 🙂 Maybe you are having a good influence on their editing!
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Yes, yes, but those objectors? Those are the type of “pedants up with with we will not put”!
I did consider giving them kudos re the correct ‘its’ – but I don’t want to spoil them. As for good influence, one can only hope!
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