Unit 5: Writing Correctly

Writing that contains factual errors wastes the time of both the writer and the reader. Consider the case of a manager at a large company who writes an email to all staff about an event. The email contains a mistake in the date of the event. If fortunate, the error will be noticed and an additional email will be sent. If unfortunate, staff will waste time going to an event on the incorrect date. This will result in additional emails for staff and the manager. There is a time cost to write and read emails. Given that in a company or organisation time is money, there is a financial cost.

Imagine 500 people who earn 2,400 yen per hour spend 1 minute reading an email — the reading cost is 2,000 yen. Assume that of the 500 people, 5% write follow-up emails (taking 3 minutes each) to question the event time, and a different 5% follow the details in the email and go to a meeting room at the incorrect time, resulting in a time loss of 30 minutes per person. The total cost of the incorrect email jumps from 2,000 yen to 35,000 yen. The cost increases with the number of readers and their time value. The cost increases dramatically when readers act on incorrect information.

When writing it is most important that the information is factually correct. Incorrect information may result in readers making decisions based on incorrect details. It is also important to use language correctly. Minor grammatical, vocabulary and punctuation errors may impact the meaning, resulting in accidentally conveying incorrect information. Minor errors may not impact the meaning, though. However, even when meaning is not affected, readers will notice the errors and may lose confidence in the accuracy of other aspects of the message.

Work alone. Identify any incorrect facts in the following sentences. A sentence may contain one, multiple, or no factual errors.

1. Today is Tuesday.
2. Bananas are yellow.
3. The body temperature of humans is 100 degrees.
4. Women are pregnant for 10 months before giving birth.
5. In winter, it is important to use snow tires to avoid accidents.
6. The sun rises in the east.
7. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
8. There is a god.
9. England is a country in the United Kingdom, which is also a country.
10. Homicide is illegal.
11. One billion written numerically is 1,000,000,000.

Work in pairs or small groups. Discuss your answers. Think critically about each statement. Is it true in all cases, e.g. for all places, all periods and all people? Is it based on evidence or a belief?

Although language errors may be categorized in many different ways, in this unit we will use four categories: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation.

Identify and correct the language errors in the sentences below. Click on each sentence to reveal the error and explanation.