Repairing a Badly Drafted Water-Supply Notice
The gram panchayat must put up a notice about a pipeline repair. The secretary has drafted the text below, and the sarpanch - who reads every notice that goes on the board - says it does not sound like a government notice at all. The block office returns any notice that contains grammatical errors.
DRAFT: NOTICE It is inform to all residents that the water supply in Ward 7 will be remain suspend on 12 August from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. because the repair work of the main pipeline. The residents are request to store water sufficient before the supply is stop. Any inconvenience cause is regretted. For more enquiry, contact the panchayat office between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on working days. The supply will be restore as soon as the work will be complete. Secretary, Gram Panchayat
The Hindi version must be put up on the same board, so the secretary also needs one sentence rendered correctly in Hindi.
1. Identify the errors in the draft - at least eight - and give the corrected form of each.
Read the worked answer
- It is inform → It is informed (passive needs the past participle).
- will be remain suspend → will remain suspended (no 'be' with 'remain'; 'suspend' must be the participle).
- because the repair work of the main pipeline → because of the repair work on the main pipeline (a noun phrase needs 'because of' or 'due to', not 'because').
- are request → are requested.
- water sufficient → sufficient water (adjective before noun).
- before the supply is stop → before the supply is stopped.
- inconvenience cause is regretted → the inconvenience caused is regretted.
- For more enquiry → For further enquiries.
- will be restore → will be restored.
- as soon as the work will be complete → as soon as the work is complete (no future tense after 'as soon as').
Register also matters: 'It is informed to all residents' is better written as 'All residents are informed'.
2. Rewrite the notice in about 60 words of formal English, keeping every factual detail.
Read the worked answer
NOTICE - Water Supply Interruption, Ward 7
All residents are informed that the water supply in Ward 7 will remain suspended on 12 August from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. due to repair work on the main pipeline. Residents are requested to store sufficient water in advance. The supply will be restored as soon as the work is completed. The inconvenience caused is regretted. For further information, contact the panchayat office between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on working days.
Secretary, Gram Panchayat
Why this version works: the agent is named in the first line, the passive voice is kept to the minimum, the reason is given as a single 'due to' phrase, and every number and time from the draft survives. Nothing has been added that the panchayat has not decided.
3. Render this sentence correctly in Hindi: 'The supply will remain suspended from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and residents are requested to store sufficient water in advance.' Explain one translation choice.
Read the worked answer
Model rendering: 12 अगस्त को प्रातः 9 बजे से अपराह्न 4 बजे तक जल आपूर्ति स्थगित रहेगी। निवासियों से अनुरोध है कि वे पर्याप्त जल पहले से संग्रहित कर लें।
One choice explained. 'Suspended' is rendered as स्थगित, not as बंद or रोक दी गई. स्थगित is the register used in official notices: it means temporarily put off and implies that supply will resume, whereas बंद suggests a closed connection and would alarm residents. Similarly, 'requested' is अनुरोध है कि with the subjunctive कर लें, which is the standard polite official form; a literal अनुरोध किया जाता है कि वे संग्रहण करेंगे would be unidiomatic. Times are written as प्रातः 9 बजे and अपराह्न 4 बजे so that the 12-hour clock is unambiguous in Hindi.