Editing a School Notice for a Quiz Competition
The head boy of a Rajasthan senior secondary school drafts the following notice for the school noticeboard: 'All the students are informed that our school is organizing a inter-school quiz competition on 15th August. Interested students should give their names to the undersigned latest by 10th August. The quiz will be hold in the main hall at 10 AM. For more informations contact the undersigned. Principle.' The teacher in charge asks you to review it before it is typed and signed. The notice must be formal, brief, and clear for students of Classes IX to XII. The school follows British English conventions. The teacher wants you to correct errors of grammar and usage and to improve the tone without changing the basic information.
1. Identify and correct at least five errors in the draft, naming the error type for each.
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- 'a inter-school' → 'an inter-school': article choice before a vowel sound. 2. 'will be hold' → 'will be held': passive voice requires the past participle. 3. 'informations' → 'information': uncountable noun, no plural -s. 4. 'latest by 10th August' → 'by 10th August': 'latest by' is redundant in this context; 'by' already gives the deadline. 5. 'Principle' → 'Principal': word choice/spelling; the head of a school is the Principal. 6. 'give their names' → 'submit their names': register; 'submit' is more formal for a notice. 7. 'All the students' → 'All students': the definite article is unnecessary when addressing the whole school. Any five of these are acceptable if the correction and reason are clear.
2. Rewrite the notice in no more than 50 words, keeping all key details and a formal tone.
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NOTICE Inter-School Quiz Competition All students are informed that the school will organise an inter-school quiz on 15 August at 10 a.m. in the main hall. Interested students should submit their names to the undersigned by 10 August. Principal
3. Explain why 'information' cannot take a plural -s, and give one more uncountable noun often misused in notices.
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'Information' is an uncountable noun in English: it refers to a mass or body of facts, not to countable items. We do not say 'informations'; we say 'information', 'some information', 'a piece of information', or 'details'. The same rule applies to other uncountable nouns common in notices, such as 'furniture', 'equipment', 'advice', 'luggage', and 'stationery'. A notice should ask students to 'submit the required information' or 'collect the equipment', not 'informations' or 'equipments'. If a count is needed, use a partitive expression: 'three pieces of information' or 'two items of equipment'.