All of the examples in this book are adapted from actual examples of English that I have spotted during the past twelve months. This is English as written by people who speak and write English as their first language (and, no doubt in many cases, their only language).
Educated people. People who have, in most cases, enjoyed as many as sixteen years of full-time education. People who have been to university and graduated with first- and second-class degrees. People who have achieved high-paying jobs in advertising and marketing without ever really fully understanding the possessive role of the apostrophe.
This is English that is looking for an audience, be it an advert, travel book or leaflet, newspaper article or website. These examples all come from texts that have been designed to communicate with more than one person. Perhaps this makes the mistakes more surprising.
Many of these mistakes – perhaps even the majority – could have been avoided if their authors had checked and rechecked their work before publishing it or sending it off to be printed. By doing so they would have improved the level of communication (the primary aim of any piece of writing – to tell the reader something) and avoided making the organisation they represent look less professional.
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