Correcting a Police Public Notice (and a Wrong Gate Number)
A constable at a district police lines is asked to draft a public notice for a Physical Efficiency Test. He submits the following to the Superintendent of Police:
NOTICE It is hereby informed to all candidates that the Physical Efficiency Test will be conduct on 12 March at the District Police Lines.
- Candidates are advised to brought their original identity documents.
- Neither the admit card or the Aadhaar card will be accepted without a photograph.
- The ground, which was repaired last month, candidates must enter through Gate No. 2 only.
- Any candidate found using unfair means will be debarred to appear in future examinations. By order of the Superintendent of Police
The Superintendent returns the draft with three comments: the grammar must be defensible in a public document, the notice must be short enough to read standing at a board, and Gate No. 2 is a misprint - the test will actually be held through Gate No. 3.
1. Identify the grammatical faults in the draft, name the rule broken in each case, and supply the corrected wording.
Read the worked answer
| # | Fault | Rule broken | Correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 'It is hereby informed to all candidates' | Inform takes a person as object and of/that for content; the impersonal passive with 'to' is not standard | 'All candidates are hereby informed that…' |
| 2 | 'will be conduct' | Passive requires past participle; conduct is the base form | 'will be conducted' |
| 3 | 'advised to brought' | The infinitive marker to takes the base form | 'advised to bring' |
| 4 | 'Neither the admit card or the Aadhaar card' | Correlative conjunction pair is neither … nor | 'Neither the admit card nor the Aadhaar card' |
| 5 | 'The ground, which was repaired last month, candidates must enter…' | Misplaced/dangling modifier - the relative clause attaches to the ground, which then reads as the subject of must enter | 'Candidates must enter through Gate No. 2 only. The ground was repaired last month.' (or 'The ground, which was repaired last month, is out of bounds; candidates must enter…') |
| 6 | 'debarred to appear' | Debarred is followed by from + gerund | 'debarred from appearing in future examinations' |
One optional tightening, not an error: 'found using unfair means' is defensible, but 'found to have used unfair means' is more precise in a document that may be read in a disciplinary proceeding.
2. Rewrite the notice in not more than 45 words so that it retains every essential fact and stays unambiguous.
Read the worked answer
Rewritten notice
NOTICE: Physical Efficiency Test, 12 March, District Police Lines. Candidates must bring original identity documents and enter through Gate No. 3. An admit card or Aadhaar card without a photograph will not be accepted. Unfair means will lead to debarment from future examinations.
Word count: 43.
What was trimmed and why it is safe to trim:
- 'It is hereby informed to all candidates that…' → dropped; a notice addressed to nobody in particular is still read as addressed to all candidates. The addressee is implied by the medium.
- 'By order of the Superintendent of Police' → dropped from the count of instructions but must be retained on the final signed board, because a notice without an issuing authority is unenforceable. It sits outside the 45-word instruction block.
- Passive constructions replaced by direct 'must bring', 'must enter' - a board read at a distance needs the actor first.
What was deliberately kept: date, venue, gate number, the document rule, the photograph condition, and the consequence clause. Removing any of these creates a fresh dispute at the gate on the day.
What was changed, not just shortened: Gate No. 2 → Gate No. 3. This is the substantive correction, and it is the reason the notice cannot just be tidied - see the next task.
3. Draft a corrigendum for the wrong gate number. Explain why the original notice should not simply be edited and re-issued, and which wording and grammar points protect the corrigendum from challenge.
Read the worked answer
Draft corrigendum
CORRIGENDUM Reference: Notice No. ______ dated ______ regarding the Physical Efficiency Test on 12 March. In item 3 of the above notice, for 'Gate No. 2' read 'Gate No. 3'. All other contents of the said notice remain unchanged. Superintendent of Police, District Police Lines - dated ______
Why not silently edit and re-issue the original:
- Two versions, one date. Candidates may already have photographed the board or downloaded the PDF. A second document carrying the same date but different content is indistinguishable from tampering and will be challenged by anyone turned away at Gate 2.
- Audit trail. A corrigendum is a dated, numbered correction that leaves the original intact and shows exactly what changed - the same logic as a charge-sheet amendment.
- Equality of treatment. If some candidates learn of Gate 3 and others do not, the correction itself becomes the grievance. A separately publicised corrigendum, circulated through the same channels as the original, is the defence.
Wording and grammar points that protect it:
- Use the standard correction formula 'for … read …', quoting the original words exactly. This is the recognised, unambiguous construction in official corrections.
- Quote only the words that change ('Gate No. 2' → 'Gate No. 3'); do not re-draft the sentence, or you re-open settled wording.
- Retain the original reference number and date, and give the corrigendum its own number and date - this is what makes the chain traceable.
- Add 'All other contents remain unchanged', otherwise a reader may assume the whole notice is superseded.
- Keep the issuer and designation identical to the original - a corrigendum issued by a different authority invites the objection that it lacks power to correct the first.
- Use the active, declarative present ('for X read Y'), not a passive hedge like 'it may be kindly noted that Gate No. 3 may be considered' - a correction that hints instead of stating will not survive a dispute at the gate.