Are you ready for another Friday Follies column, dear grammarphiles? The Grammar Cop is! Take a look at these spelling slipups!

1. “Frances McDormand used her acceptance speach at this year’s Oscars to challenge Hollywood execs.”
2. “The direction in which the threads are sewn mimic the way brush marks are layered within a painting which, in turn, allows for the allusion of depth, volume, and form.”
3. Ad: “• Aluminium Railing • Glass railings (interior & exterior) • Welded aluminum stairs • Fibber glass floors & steps”

Corrections:

1. Remember that great movie, “The King’s Speach”? Or course you don’t! It’s speech! It’s especially galling to see such a silly error in the glorious The Sunday Times Magazine.
2. “Allusion” is not the right word. An allusion to something or someone means you are referring to that thing or person. For example, the expression “A rose is a rose is a rose” is an allusion to a poem by Gertrude Stein. But the example above mistakenly uses “allusion” when the correct word is illusion, which means the appearance of something that is not really as it seems – as in a “magic” trick, for example.
3. Wow. Several errors here, the most egregious of which is “Fibber.” Really? Are the glass floors and steps really lying? Well, they lie on the ground, maybe, but… No no, the correct spelling is fiber, and in fact the intended word in the ad is fiberglass. Also, it doesn’t need to be capitalized. I checked. (Insert smug smile.) Another error is Aluminium – yes, I know it’s spelled this way in the U.K. But on this side of the pond, it’s aluminum, which you can see is spelled correctly just a few words over in the same ad! How about a little consistency, right? This is the result of having NO PROOFREADER. (Insert grumbling.) Another thing: the second word in the ad – railing – does not need to be capitalized… as in fact, it is not, in the very next phrase, Glass railings. Again – inconsistency drives me nutso. By the way, the same ad also boasts “Direct from manufacture.” Enough said.

I’ll see you next week Direct from Grammar Copping.