[3 minutes to read]
I was at an international conference in Washington, DC, a few weeks ago. There were 10,000 attendees. A consulting firm decided to make a splash at the conference by sponsoring one of the keynote speakers. The speaker was famous and therefore, presumably expensive.
On the day of the speech, the firm paid the organizers to carefully place a card on 10,000 seats in the auditorium. The graphics on the card were beautiful. But the text? Not so much. The front of the card said, “Flipping management development on it’s head.” Turning management development on it is head? They meant its.
I can’t imagine how much money this firm spent on its campaign, but all 10,000 people saw the mistake. Granted, some of them might not mind. But for anyone who cares about language, this mistake is a dog-whistle that says careless about detail, don’t check their work, ignorant.
This is a company that offers pricey off-site training to leadership teams. I don’t know about you, but the card makes me think, “If they can’t proofread a sentence, can I trust them with my team’s development?”
In short, this mistake was an expensive disaster.
Its/It’s errors are all too common. This is sad because the mistake is easy to avoid. When you feel the urge to write it’s, ask yourself if you mean it is or it has, as in:
It’s hot outside.
It’s been hard to reach the contractor.
But if you don’t intend to show a contraction, then you mean to show possession. The possessive pronoun of it is its: belonging to it.
The company raised its rates.
The car had its annual service.
I got some inside information about the mistake. My source said the card was created in a rush and several people who might have caught the mistake were not available. Fifteen minutes before the keynote speech, someone noticed the error. They contacted the conference organizers and asked if there was time to remove the cards from 10,000 seats. There was no time, so the cards stayed on the seats.
The person who made the mistake on the card could probably identify the error if he or she slowed down and looked at it carefully. It’s not like the its/it’s distinction is a well-kept secret. Yet the error made it to the final product. What can we learn from this?
- Re-read everything.
- Be alert for common errors like
- it’s/its
- your/you’re
- lose/loose
- they’re/their/there.
- Get another person to read the document for you if it is important.
The cost of rushing can be astronomical. When you do not proofread, you damage your brand. You lose credibility. You lose business. The few minutes spent re-reading your work are well worthwhile.
It’s up to you! Your organization can improve its image by avoiding common mistakes.
©2019 Elizabeth Danziger All rights reserved
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