Editing a blood-donation notice
The student council of a college has drafted the notice below for a blood-donation camp. The principal will approve it only after a line-by-line edit. The draft reads: 'All students are informed that a blood donation camp will be organized by the NSS unit on 14 August, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the college auditorium. Interested students should register their names at the NSS office before 10 August, bringing their identity cards. The camp is requiring donors to have eaten a light meal and to avoid alcohol for 24 hours. Having consulted the medical officer, the timing of the camp was changed to avoid the afternoon heat. Students who has donated blood in the last three months should not register. For any doubts, contact the undersigned.' The council also wants the notice to be clear about whether the alcohol instruction applies before donation, after donation, or both.
1. Identify and correct four grammatical or usage errors in the draft, naming the problem in each case.
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- 'The camp is requiring donors' → 'The camp requires donors'. A standing rule is expressed in the simple present, not the progressive.\n\n2. 'Having consulted the medical officer, the timing of the camp was changed' → dangling modifier. The timing did not consult anyone. Rewrite as: 'After the medical officer was consulted, the timing of the camp was changed...' or 'Having consulted the medical officer, the NSS unit changed the timing...'\n\n3. 'Students who has donated' → 'Students who have donated'. The relative pronoun 'who' refers to plural 'students', so the verb must be plural.\n\n4. 'For any doubts, contact the undersigned' → 'For any queries, contact the undersigned' or 'If you have any doubts, contact the undersigned'. The prepositional pattern 'for any doubts' is not standard in this notice context; 'queries' is the conventional noun.
2. Rewrite the alcohol sentence so that it is unambiguous, and state what the original leaves unclear.
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Original: 'The camp is requiring donors to have eaten a light meal and to avoid alcohol for 24 hours.' The phrase 'for 24 hours' is not anchored in time: it could mean 24 hours before donation, 24 hours after donation, or both. The sentence also mixes a clearly pre-donation instruction ('to have eaten') with an unanchored one ('to avoid alcohol').\n\nA clear version: 'Donors must eat a light meal before donating and must not consume alcohol for 24 hours before donation.' If the medical rule also applies after donation, state it separately: '...and for 24 hours after donation.' The rewrite makes the time reference explicit and keeps the two instructions parallel.
3. Write one formal opening sentence that gives the purpose, date, time and venue without unnecessary words. Justify two choices you made.
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Model sentence: 'The NSS unit of the college will hold a blood-donation camp on 14 August from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the college auditorium.'\n\nTwo justifications: first, the active voice ('will hold') is shorter and more direct than 'will be organized by'; second, the date, time and venue are grouped in one closing sequence, which is easier to scan than separating them across the sentence. The opening 'All students are informed that' is removed because a notice already addresses students; the purpose is stated immediately.