Find the Error 48
(Extract adapted from an advert for a DVD promoted by a national broadcaster)
What kind of mistake do you see? (Choose one:)
- apostrophes
- articles
- doesn't make sense
- punctuation
- singular / plural
- spelling
Answer: spelling
The misspelled word in this example is 'programme'. In the UK we use the
word 'programme' as a noun (a thing) to talk primarily about something on
television or radio, e.g. 'a television programme'. The author of this advert
tries to use the common noun 'programme' as a verb, when the verb form
should be spelled with the American English spelling: 'program'. In American
English the noun form ('TV program') and verb form ('to program your VCR')
are spelled the same, but in British English there is still a distinction,
perhaps because the verb 'to program' is still relatively new to us. The
sentence should read: 'Program your 10 favourite tracks'. It is worth noting
that in British English we do use 'program' as a common noun when talking
about computer software, e.g. 'a new computer program for wordprocessing'.
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