Controversial: Fatals

Fatals included ...

PROBLEM: In one case we spelled the board member's first name as Jana, when in fact it was Jane:

SOLUTION: Before writing, carefully go over the information to make sure you understand all the facts as they are. After writing, double-check against your notes every noun (person, place or thing), identifying labels (like addresses, titles and such), numbers, dates and the entirety of all quotes to make sure what you wrote was what you intended to write.

*****

PROBLEM: In one case we wrote that the board cotes on police, when in fact the board votes on policy. Since this misspelling creates a change in meaning (as the police weren't involved in this at all), it is a fatal.

SOLUTION: And this is an example of where spell check wouldn't have caught the mistake, because the unintended word is correctly spelled. This is why we need to use spell check as a supplement to -- but not a substitute for -- checking your story fact-by-fact with your own eyes, and checking against your notes -- or, in this case, against the information in your text.

Plus, beware blindly agreeing to whatever changes spell check suggests. It wouldn't surprise me if here we had misspellings for which spell check made an incorrect change to an unintended but correctly-spelled word.

*****

PROBLEM: We referred to a board member as a councilwoman. The terms are not interchangeable; a board member is part of a board like the school board here; a council person is a member of a body so named, such as a City Council. So that's a fatal, as is any error regarding someone's proper title.

SOLUTION: Don't assume; be precise. And know the words you're using, so that you can use them correctly.

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For those keeping score at home, eight of 19 people in this class are members of the Fatals Club. We'll wait on ordering t-shirts until later in the semester, okay?