My daughter discovered this sign recently on a local bike path here in Coeur d’Alene. The ironic thing about this particular sign is that it is near the front of a school (Woodland Middle School, by the Comcast Building)! You would think/hope that one of the teachers would have called someone about the error on the sign.

Anyhow, just in case the mistake isn’t obvious to you, there should not be an apostrophe in the word “users.”

The odd thing is that there are many signs like this on the same trail. I haven’t checked all of them, but many of the other signs do not include the same mistake. Interesting…

Why is proofreading important? Here’s a great example of why you need to double check your work. It’s also a good example of a poor printing company. A company who produces material for other organizations really should be responsible enough to double check the content they are printing. Five minutes of time reviewing the project probably would have eliminated an error that has now been reported and scoffed at nationwide.

WESTLAKE, Ohio - A Cleveland-area principal says he’s embarrassed his students got proof of their “educaiton” on their high school diplomas.

Westlake High School officials misspelled “education” on the diplomas distributed last weekend. It’s been the subject of mockery on local radio.

Principal Timothy Freeman says he sent back the diplomas once to correct another error. When the diplomas came back, no one bothered to check things they thought were right the first time.

The publisher has reprinted the diplomas a second time and sent them to the 330 graduates.

Source: Yahoo News 6/9/08

By the way, if I were the principal…I’d find another printer for next year’s diplomas. I wonder what the first error was that caused them to be sent back…

There, their, they’re

Your, you’re

Here, hear

We, wee

Add, ad

Tea, tee

Ate, eight

Seas, sees, seize

Mall, maul

Awl, all

Aye, eye, I

Flair, flare

Lone, loan

Sail, sale

Stair, stare

Minor, miner

Tacks, tax

Tale, tail

Heel, heal, he’ll

Hymn, him

Heroin, heroine

Sole, soul

Write, right, rite

Medal, Metal, Meddle

Seam, seem

The list goes on and on. The mistakes people make with them seems endless too.

If you simply rely on your computer’s spell checker to edit your work, then you are most likely making quite a few mistakes in your writing. You cannot trust your spell checker as the sole editor for your writing. You need to look at the words you have written and make sure they are used in their proper context. Sometimes it is a good idea to print out your work and look at it on paper. Read your content in reverse. It gives you a different perspective than simply staring at your screen. This forces you to look at each word, giving you a chance to check its spelling along with its placement and usage. Just because all of the words are spelled correctly doesn’t mean that your writing is properly formatted. Make sure you are using the correct word! As an example, there is a huge difference in the words ‘their’ and ‘they’re.’ It’s a simple mistake, yet it can alter the context of your writing immensely.

The English language is quirky. It’s easy to mess it up. Homophones are a common problem for many people. Hopefully these easy suggestions will help you avoid a few of the potential pitfalls that surround word selection and usage. Of course, it’s always wise to seek the assistance of a good proofreader to review your content too (ahem…hint, hint).

If you feel like adding more homophones to the list, please feel free to list them in the comments. I think it would be fun to create a very large, encompassing list.

**Update:

Canon, Cannon (see this post: http://www.mcwriters.com/2008/06/18/i-found-another-bad-sign/).