Bonehead English 1-26

Ah, the dreaded "include" mistake. Here's the wrong: "Five Chargers are represented at this year's 2012 Pro Bowl. They include quarterback Philip Rivers, tight end Antonio Gates, safety Eric Weddle, wide receiver Vincent Jackson and running back Ryan Mathews." Two options to make it right are: 1. Substituting "are" for "include" 2. Deleting "They include" and changing the period after "Bowl" to a colon It's not appropriate to use "include" when you're providing all the participants, options, etc.

Bonehead English 1/12

Be cautious when using personalization software that allows you to address recipients by name. Here's an example of what not to do: Dear Adrienne: You're invited to a party celebrating the grand opening of our newest San Diego location. We sincerely hope you can be there to sample some of our newest goodies and have a chance to win some great door prizes. The fun begins at 7 p.m. on January 10. We look forward to seeing you there! If you don't live in San Diego, we're sorry you can't celebrate with us in person. I'd love to stay connected with you and look forward to seeing you the next time I'm in your city. Since I do live in San Diego, the final paragraph is obviously not relevant to me and it negated all the "goodwill" created by the personalized salutation. Don't make that same mistake!

Bonehead English 12-22

Wouldn't you think that someone crafting the title of a presentation would take special care to ensure it didn't contain any errors? With that in mind, it's hard to explain this: "Perspectives of Death and It's Teachings." The second to last word should be "Its," denoting possession, rather than "It's," the contraction of "It Is." Making such a basic grammar mistake--in a title no less--lowers people's perception of the writer's professionalism.

Bonehead English 11-30

Compare these two sentences: 1) The five-year deal could profoundly alter the sport in a significant way. 2) The five-year deal could profoundly alter the sport. Is "in a significant way" really necessary, or is it merely repeating the message already delivered by "profoundly alter"? Remember, less is more!

Bonehead English 11-12

Check out this sentence: Who want's to be entered to win an Apple Inc. iPhone 4s? Very curious as to this writer's thought process, putting an apostrophe in what should be "wants."

Bonehead English 11-9

The most important component of any e-mail is its subject line. We all have crowded in-boxes, so the decision to either open or ignore communication (especially from an unknown source) is typically based on how compelling that subject line is. Thus, the CEO and founder of a global community for women did herself a big disservice by sending out an e-mail with the following subject line: "Your Complementary E..." Her missteps were: 1. Writing a subject line too long to be displayed in the small space allotted by most e-mail programs (Think short, to the point and displayable in its entirety when writing subject lines.) 2. Using complementary incorrectly (She meant "free"--which is frowned on by spam filters--so the alternative should have been "complimentary.") Remember, if your e-mail's subject line isn't compelling enough, or it contains a typo, the intended recipient may never click through to read it.

Bonehead English 10/19

Typos and missing punctuation: I see this everywhere. The question below appeared in a survey I was sent by my dentist: Did we spend time educating you about the importance of oral health and it's link to overall health What's wrong? The question lacks a question mark and "it's" should be "its," reflecting possession. ("It's" is always the contraction of "it is," which makes no sense here.)