May 2011 - Judy Gregory Writer

More mangled modifiers

Yesterday I received a letter that made me laugh out loud It was a fundraising letter, so that probably wasn't the reaction that the author was after But the first sentence created a wonderful image for me Here's the sentence:When I was told I might have leukaemia in 2008 I was shatteredThe image I got was of Mark (the case study in the letter) sitting in a doctor's office some time in 2006 (or around then) being told that, in 2008, he might have leukaemia It's like looking into the futureIt's...

Mangled modifiers

I've been focusing a bit on modifiers recently - those bits of sentences that add extra detail or explanation I'm amazed at how often they're put in a spot that's awkward or confusingTake this sentence - which I heard on an ABC news report last week:'There had been very little awareness for a flood in the community'I'm pretty sure that they intended for the community to have the awareness, rather than the community to have the flood This means that the sentence would have been better written...

Coping with unfamiliar settings

An unfamiliar environment is almost guaranteed to bring my facade of confidence unstuck It doesn't need to be a difficult or stressful situation - just something that I'm not familiar with It's all about lacking the 'script' for how I'm meant to behave in that environment And my reaction seems to be influenced greatly by interactions with staff and the surrounding signageA few weeks ago, I ended up buying lunch for my children at Hungry Jack's Hardly what you'd call a difficult environment, but...

Pesky possessives part 2

I didn't expect to find more to say about the possessive apostrophe in Mothers' Day But then I received an email from Grammar Girl, letting me know that I should write Mother's Day - it's singular possessive because the day is about families honouring their individual mothers, rather than being a plural possessive honouring of all mothersI'm still not completely convinced I looked up that source of trustworthy information, Wikipedia, and learned that Mother's Day was trademarked by Anna Jarvis...

Signs intended to calm disgruntled customers

Is it possible for organisations to diffuse customer frustration using signs The ultimate message of the signs is: Please, don't get frustrated with us; this is the way our system works, and we're not going to change it for youI've come across two examples of these signs recently, and I felt that one was much more successful than the other In fact, the second only increased my frustrationHere's the one that I likedI know that my poorly-taken pic isn't easy to read It's a sign in a cafe and,...