Correcting Five Carbon Copies Before Dispatch
A typist in a district office must produce a three-page circular on a manual typewriter. The original plus four carbon copies are needed. The office style uses a 1.25-inch left margin for binding, a 1-inch right margin, pica type at 10 characters per inch, and double spacing. Page 2 has already been typed on all five copies when the typist notices that 'Principal Secretary' appears as 'Principle Secretary' in the address block. The dispatch clerk leaves in 20 minutes. Retyping page 2 would take about 12 minutes, including carbon assembly and collation. A single word correction on five copies, done carefully, takes about 4 minutes. Page 3 contains a six-column table that needs 6.4 inches of width; the current text block is 6.25 inches wide. The office has elite type at 12 characters per inch available on a second machine, but the circular must keep one type style throughout.
1. Should the typist correct the single word or retype page 2? Give the sequence of correction and the safeguards.
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Correct the single word; do not retype page 2. The deadline arithmetic is decisive: 4 minutes of correction leaves 16 minutes for page 3 and collation, while a 12-minute retype leaves only 8 and risks missing the dispatch clerk.
The correction must be done copy by copy, not through the carbon pack. Erase 'Principle' on the top copy, insert a fresh carbon sheet under it, type 'Principal' in alignment, then repeat for each carbon copy, checking alignment on a scrap sheet first. If any copy shows a halo or ghost impression, retype that copy alone. Before dispatch, proof all five copies, because a correction that is clean on the original can smudge on the fourth carbon. The typist should also verify that 'Principal Secretary' is the correct designation, since correcting to the wrong title would be worse than the original error.
2. Resolve the table-width problem without changing the type style of the circular.
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The table needs 6.4 inches; the text block is 6.25 inches, a deficit of 0.15 inch. Do not switch to elite for page 3: the circular must keep one type style, and a change of pitch mid-document is visible.
The binding margin of 1.25 inches is functional, so protect it. Compress the table within 6.25 inches: abbreviate the six column headings, reduce inter-column spaces, and use single vertical rules. If the table still cannot be compressed, reduce the right margin by 0.15 inch to 0.85 inch for page 3 only, keeping the left binding margin intact. Reducing the left margin is the worst option because it defeats binding. The judgement is to preserve the functional margin and the document's type identity, and to absorb the small deficit in the table layout rather than in the page architecture.