Correcting a School Notice
A cadet has drafted this notice for the school board: 'All the students are informed that there will be a meeting on 15th August at 10 a.m. in the assembly hall regarding the annual sports day. The students which are interested should give their names to the class monitor before 12th August. Bring your own pen. No late comers will be allowed.'
The teacher points out that the notice has errors of agreement, relative pronoun, register and factual accuracy. The meeting is only for team captains and house prefects, not all students. The sports day is on 25 August. The notice is for Classes VI to XII and must be under 50 words. The principal wants a formal notice with a heading, date and sign-off by the sports secretary.
1. Identify four specific errors in the draft and give the correction for each.
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- Relative pronoun: 'The students which are interested' should be 'The students who are interested' because 'who' refers to people.
- Factual accuracy: 'All the students' is wrong because the meeting is only for team captains and house prefects. It should name that group.
- Register: 'Bring your own pen' is too informal and personal for a notice. Better: 'Carry a pen' or 'Participants should bring a pen'.
- Register and clarity: 'No late comers will be allowed' is blunt and loosely punctuated. Better: 'Late entrants will not be permitted' or 'Please be seated by 9:50 a.m.' A fifth error is the vague date '15th August' without the year or day, and the missing sign-off.
2. Rewrite the notice in under 50 words with a heading, date and sign-off.
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NOTICE
12 August 20XX
Meeting for Team Captains and House Prefects
Team captains and house prefects of Classes VI to XII must attend a meeting on 15 August at 10 a.m. in the assembly hall about the sports day on 25 August. Bring a pen.
- Sports Secretary
3. Explain why 'which' is wrong in this sentence, and why 'No late comers will be allowed' is unsuitable for a school notice. Give better alternatives.
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'Which' is used for things and animals, not for people. The clause refers to students, so the correct relative pronoun is 'who'. 'That' is also possible in a defining clause, but 'which' is not the best choice here.
'No late comers will be allowed' is unsuitable because it is abrupt and sounds like a threat. A school notice should be firm but polite and should state the expected behaviour clearly. Better alternatives are 'Late entrants will not be permitted' or 'Please arrive by 9:50 a.m. so that the meeting can begin on time.' The second version tells students what to do rather than only what will be punished.