A grammar cop came in to work

[HEyHEY]

Today a British lady came into the office. She spoke in glowing terms of one article I wrote. Then she produced an article for the same paper that had tons of mistakes in it. The mistakes were my fault, the story wasn't proof read because in the run of things we forgot. But I noticed some of what she underlined was wrong and not mistakes at all. So I highlighted those and just mailed them off with this letter. - She's a nice lady and I hope she gets the joke.

Dear Mrs. ----

I do appreciate your critique of the crematorium article. As I said it certainly was embarrassing that something that terrible was published. But it does happen on occasion.

However, I noticed not all of what you pointed out was in fact a mistake by Canadian Press Standards. The highlighted areas are those which are correct.

In the first case either could be right. It is possible to use a comma in that case, but it is possible to use a period as well.

The second is "universe," it was spelled correctly so I assumed your problem was with the dash midway through. That is something the computer automatically does when a word won’t fit the line.

The third is the period after "St." While it is okay to use a comma after the period in the abbreviation, if it signifies the end of a sentence the period serves as both the end of the sentence and the end of the abbreviation.

The fourth is the phrase "in to." In the context in which I used it the spelling was correct. The compound use of "into" is only to be used when describing something changing. Example: I turned into a frog.

In the case above it is proper. But in my use the person was putting money "in to" a building making the two words separate.

Again thank you for pointing out the flaws. But as far as the total score goes it is 4-6 in your favour.

I was thinking of giving you more points for how many times urn and crematorium were mis-spelled, but then I realized they really are only one mistake.

Feel free to continue checking. As a cub reporter I appreciate the critique.

[Rowdyboy]

1. Very classy reaction

Its so rare these days.

[TrogL]

2. You're wrong on "in to"

you would still use "into" in that particular usage. You may be thinking of, "I went in to do some business".