Wrong

X

Wrong Can

you find the mistakes?

George Edwards Jessica Johnson Liora Engel-Smith Michele Zipkin Sarah Fry

Wrong

Wrong

Can you find the mistakes?

George Edwards Jessica Johnson Liora Engel-Smith Michele Zipkin Sarah Fry

GradEdit Publications 2015

GradEdit Publications Copyright Š 2015 Wrong: can you find the mistakes?

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrival system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of GradEdit Publications.

Contents

Forward 6 Easy 7 Medium 23 Hard 29 Answers 43 Credits 55

6 Wrong

Foreword Welcome to the grammar version of “Where is Waldo?” Here you can test your grammar and editing prowess. We collected 35 images of billboards, signs and ads that are, for some reason, just wrong.

The book has three chapters: easy, medium and hard, but don’t feel like you have to begin in the beginning. You may choose to start in the end and work your way backward. You can even open the book to a random page. Each page may contain one or more mistakes, so pay attention!

When you’ve identified the mistake or mistakes on the page, you can check your answers at the back of the book, starting on Page 43.

Happy editing!

-The authors

Easy 7

Easy

8 Wrong

Photo by George Edwards

Easy 9

Photo by Jessica Johnson

10 Wrong

Photo by Liora Engel-Smith

Easy 11

Photo by Liora Engel-Smith

12 Wrong

Photo by Liora Engel-Smith

Easy 13

Photo by Liora Engel-Smith

14 Wrong

Photo by Sarah Fry

Easy 15

Photo by Michele Zipkin

16 Wrong

Photo by Sarah Fry

Easy 17

Photo by Michele Zipkin

18 Wrong

Photo by Michele Zipkin

Easy 19

Photo by Sarah Fry

20 Wrong

Photo by Sarah Fry

Easy 21

Photo by Sarah Fry

22 Wrong

Photo by Jessica Johnson

Medium 23

Medium

24 Wrong

Photo by Jessica Johnson

Medium 25

Photo by Jessica Johnson

26 Wrong

Photo by Michele Zipkin

Medium 27

Photo by Sarah Fry

Hard 29

Hard

30 Wrong

Photo by George Edwards

Hard 31

Photo by Jessica Johnson

32 Wrong

Photo by Liora Engel-smith

Hard 33

Photo by George Edwards

34 Wrong

Photo by Sarah Fry

Hard 35

Photo by George Edwards

36 Wrong

Photo by Liora Engel-smith

Hard 37

Photo by Liora Engel-smith

38 Wrong

Photo by Sarah Fry

Hard 39

Photo by Sarah Fry

40 Wrong

Photo by George Edwards

Hard 41

Photo by Michele Zipkin

Answers 43

Answers

44 Wrong

Easy

Page 8: Awkward phrases on a Wawa sign at 1800 Ticonderoga Blvd. Chester Springs, Pa. The sign should read “More than 100 drink choices. One machine” instead of “100+ drink choices. 1 machine.”

Page 9: Incorrect apostrophe on a sign at the SEPTA Wyndmoor station. The sign should read “ABCs” instead of “ABC’s”.

Page 10: Telegraphic writing on a mailbox at 2216 Carlisle Street in South Philadelphia. The sign should say “Thanks” instead of “Thx”.

Page 11: Errant apostrophe on the corner of Snyder Avenue and Broad Street in South Philadelphia. The sign should say “casinos” instead of “casino’s.”

Page 12: Missing space on a Jackson Street store sign in South Philadelphia. The sign should say “ice cream” instead of “icecream”.

Answers 45

Page 13: Mistakes of a nonnative English speaker at Matt’s Laundromat on Snyder Avenue and Carlisle Street.

The sign should say: “Check your machine before you add detergent. There may be detergent left in the machine from previous use. Too much detergent can leave soap on your clothes. We will not refund you if this happens.” instead of “Please Check your machine before you put detergent sometimes detergent left in machine if you put too much detergent it will leave bubble until finished we don’t have responsible about that” Page 14: Wrong capitalization and errant ampersand on a sign in the Doylestown/Lansdale SEPTA regional rail. The sign should read, “For customer service and security, cameras may be used in this vehicle” instead of “For Customer Service & Security Cameras may be in use on this vehicle”.

46 Wrong

Page 15: Grammar and spelling mistakes on a homemade sign in the Shop ‘N Bag at 43rd and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The sign should read, “upgrading” instead of “up grading”, “switches” instead of “switiches”, “baseboard” instead of “base board” and “incoming” instead of “in coming”.

Page 16: An imaginary word and a barrage of hyphens found in an ad at the Doylestown/ Lansdale SEPTA Regional Rail. If the makers of the ad insist on using imaginary words, the sign should read “Wondificent” as opposed to “Won-di-fi-cent”.

Page 17: Grammar and spelling mistakes on a homemade for rent sign in the Shop ‘N Bag at 43rd and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The sign should read, “One fridge is vegetarian” and “must love cats” instead of “One frig is vegetarian” and “love of cats” and “Breakfast and Sunday dinners” instead of “Breakfasts and Sunday dinner”.

Answers 47

Page 18: Unnecessary quotation marks and awkward writing at Auntie Anne’s Pretzels at 34th and Walnut Streets. The sign should read, “Buy one pretzel, get one free” instead of “Buy 1 get 1 free ’Pretzel’”.

Page 19: Unnecessary use of hyphens on a poster at Temple University’s Student Activity Center on North 13th Street and West Montgomery Avenue in North Philadelphia. The hyphens in this sign should be either replaced by a colon or omitted.

Page 20: Awkwardly written phrases on a food truck on North 13th Street and Polett Walk in North Philadelphia. The sign should read, “The following combinations of selected toppings are carefully chosen for your enjoyment” instead of “The following combination of selected toppings are chosen considerably for your best taste”

48 Wrong

Page 21: Unnecessary ampersand and improper capitalization on a homemade for rent sign at Cecil B. Moore Avenue and North Broad Street in North Philadelphia. The sign should read, “washer and dryer” instead of “washer & Dryer.”

Page 22: Incorrectly punctuated sign at SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill train. The sign should read, “Yes, you are talking too loudly. Please use your inside voice.” Instead of “Yes…You are talking to loud.

Please use your ‘inside voice’”.

Answers 49

Medium

Page 24: Misspelling and awkward phrases on a food cart sign on Montgomery, outside of the Temple Student Center.

The food card sign should read “Takeout” instead of “Take Out”, “Dining” instead of “Dinning”, “Halal chicken stew” instead of Halal stew chicken”, “Halal chicken curry” instead of “Halal curry chicken”, “Halal goat curry” instead of “Halal curry goat”, “ collard greens” instead of “collard-greens” and “fried plantains” instead of “friedplantains”.

Page 25: Poorly spelled sign at the SEPTA Wyndmoor station.

The sign should use “Gratefully” instead of “Graetfully”.

Page 26: Grammar and spelling mistakes on a homemade for rent sign in the Shop ‘N Bag at 43rd and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The sign should read, “The whole apartment has hardwood floors” instead of

50 Wrong

“The whole apartment is a hardwood floor”, “The apartment has backyard access” instead of “If you are a BBQ fan, you’ve got an access to the backyard,” “The landlord lives in the building” instead of “The land—lord resides within the building”, and “Do not contact me with unsolicited offers” instead of “do NOT contact me with unsolicited offers.”

Page 27: Poor grammar found in an ad on the Doylestown/ Lansdale SEPTA train. The sign should read “Live Fearlessly” instead of “Live Fearless”.

Answers 51

Hard

Page 30: Misleading writing on a furniture store sign on 54th Street and Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia. The sign should read, “Entire Stock on Sale” instead of “Entire Store on Sale”.

Page 31: Incorrect name on a sign at 12th street in Philadelphia. The sign should read, “Martin Luther King Jr.” instead of “MLK”.

Page 32: Missing hyphen on a sign on the corner of Jackson and Carlisle Streets in South Philadelphia. The sign should say “Back-in angle parking only” instead of “Back in angle parking only”.

Page 33: Unnecessary ampersand and inconsistent formatting on an ad on Oregon Avenue and Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia.

The sign should read “Auto Motorcycle and Boat” instead of “Auto ∙ Motorcycle & Boat”.

52 Wrong

Page 34: Wrongly formatted poster in Temple University’s Student Activity Center on North 13th Street and West Montgomery Avenue in North Philadelphia. The poster should read, “1:05 p.m.”, “9 p.m.”, and “check-in”.

Page 35: Awkward phrasing on a self-service storage sign in Planebrook Road and Lancaster Avenue in Malvern, Pa. The sign should say “Storage” instead of “Self-storage”.

Page 36: Misspelled store sign on the corner of Snyder Avenue and Carlisle Street. The sign should say “Wieners” instead of “Weiners”.

Page 37: Misplaced modifier on the corner of Jackson and Carlisle Streets in South Philadelphia. The sign should say, “No dumping of trash on this corner” instead of “No dumping on this corner of trash”

Answers 53

Page 38: Awkwardly written sign at the SEPTA Regional Rail platform. The sign should read, “Men and Women Wanted For This Fall Season.” Instead of “Men and Women Wanted for Fall Season”.

Page 39: Poorly punctuated sentences with unnecessary use of the passive voice on a sign in the Doylestown/Lansdale SEPTA regional rail. The sign should read, “Don’t talk on your cell phone. You may text message/IM, but set your phone on vibrate or mute” instead of “Cell phones cannot be used for making or taking calls.” and “Use earphones to listen to music. Set the volume to low so others won’t hear it” instead of “Earphones must be used to listen to music; set the volume to low so others won’t hear it” and “Set your electronic devices to vibrate or mute” instead of “All other electronic devices must be placed on vibrate or mute”

54 Wrong

Page 40: Vague writing on a road sign on Route 100 and North Pottstown Pike. The sign should read, “Vehicles in Left Lane Must Turn Left” instead of “Left Lane Must Turn Left”.

Page 41: Misspelled word on a corner shop sign at 45th and Walnut Streets. The sign should say “Housewares” instead of “House Wear”.

Credits 55

Credits Photos

George Edwards:

Pages 8, 30, 33, 35, 40

Jessica Johnson:

Pages 9, 22, 24, 25, 31

Liora Engel-Smith:

Pages 10, 11, 12, 13, 32, 36,37

Michele Zipkin:

Pages 15, 17, 18, 26, 41

Sarah Fry:

Pages 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 27, 34, 38, 39