In one story inside of a quote, when we meant to say possess (as in, control and own), we said posses (such as, the plural of a posse, which is a group of people out to nab a criminal at-large).
In another story inside of a quote, when we meant to say from, we said form.
In yet another story inside a quote, we spelled to sloppy (as in, I will sloppy, or go toward sloppy) when we meant too sloppy (as in, very sloppy).
Yes, those are fatals. No, spell check wouldn't have caught them, because we misspelled words that created correctly-spelled but unintended words. Yes, we needed to check our work fact-by-fact, to make sure what we wrote was correct and what we intended to write. No, avoiding fatals has nothing to do with talent; it's just a question of vigilance.
In one more story inside a quote, we wrote something was "right from the gecko" when we meant the common expression of "right from the get-go." If a quote doesn't make sense, ask the person to repeat themselves or explain what they said.
As of today, 17 of 18 people in this class have passed the membership test for the Fatals Suck Club, and are members in good (?) standing. But that's to be expected; most everyone fatals in this class a couple of times.
What is far more disappointing -- and concerning -- is a quintet of fatals so late in the semester, in such a highly-weighed assignment.
No comments:
Post a Comment