Find the Error 34
(Extract adapted from an advert in a local paper for a major high-street store)
What kind of mistake do you see? (Choose one:)
- apostrophes
- articles
- doesn't make sense
- punctuation
- singular / plural
- spelling
Answer: spelling
There is a spelling mistake on the fourth line of this example. The word
'closedown' should read 'close down'. 'To close down' is a verb form (a
phrasal verb, which means a verb ('close') with a preposition ('down')
working together as one verb or one action). The sentence is describing the
action that the store will take (i.e. it will close down). The author has
incorrectly used 'closedown', which is a noun that describes the process of
closing down. For example, this would be fine: 'There will be a closedown in
our store at 6 pm'. There is a clue that 'closedown' is a noun here because it
requires an article. 'Close down', on the other hand, is correct for our
example because it's a verb and fits together with 'will' to complete the future
tense verb form, which begins with the subject: 'Our existing store …',
continues with the verb phrase: '… will close down …' and ends with an
adverbial clause (showing the time): '… at 6.00pm on Saturday 17th June'.
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