“Proofread carefully 
to see if you 
any words out.”
William Safire

I should begin with an admission that I am not perfect. I make mistakes in my writing. Most often, a thorough proofreading of what I’ve written enables me to catch mistakes before they are published, but not always. Occasionally, an error goes unnoticed, despite my efforts to avoid them. That’s just a part of life, I guess.

Generally speaking, I’m a stickler for correct spelling and good grammar. My students through the years were well aware of this. I would like to believe that they are better writers today, in part, due to the effort I put forth to identify and correct their writing mistakes. 

During the years my three boys were in elementary school, I was astounded at the number of spelling and grammar errors I found in correspondence from their teachers. I was often tempted to correct their mistakes with a red pen and send the paper back to the teacher. I never actually did this. When the boys got to high school, while a number of their instructors sent documents home which had not been adequately (if at all) proofread, I was surprised to see and hear glaring errors in grammar from members of the school administration.

Even now, during my retirement, I can’t help but notice errors when I see them, and I see them with alarming regularity. A few examples:

• “Pitch In! Put trash in it’s place.”
• “No parking. Violators will be towed and find $50.”
• “Employees must wash hands before living.”
• “Support your local pubic school.”
• “Quite please. Exams in progress.”
• “Please satanize your hands here.”
• “So fun… They won’t even know their learning.”
• “Illegally parked cars will be fine.”
• “Hlep wanted.”
• “Student drop-off. No stopping.”
• “Welcome back! Hope you had a good brake.”
• “Shoplifters will be prostituted.”
• “Closed due to personal circumcisions.”
• “Hotel quests only.”
• “Please pay your parking fee before existing.”

Ya gotta love this stuff!