Oops! Did I Really Write That?

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Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.

It was a miniscule scratch, but Jerry thought his car was ruined.

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Every fall my husband arranges for a crew to remove inflorescences and dead leaves from the palm trees at our building. Here’s a notice I posted for residents this morning:

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About an hour later I realized that I’d made an embarrassing mistake. Did you spot it?

It is one of the trickiest words in the English language. The mistake I made is called an “indefinite pronoun reference.” In plain English, it was pointing to the wrong word. We were asking residents to move their parking spaces, not their cars.

Here’s the revised sentence:

If your parking space is near a palm tree, please move your car to visitor parking or Pope Avenue Tuesday morning.  CORRECT

Much better!

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

Be careful how you spell minuscule. Look for the word “minus,” and you’ll get it right every time.

It was a minuscule scratch, but Jerry thought his car was ruined.  CORRECT

What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.[image error]

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