The Notice Board Draft
Priya, a clerical assistant, has drafted a notice for the staff board. Her supervisor will sign it but has asked for the grammar to be checked first. The draft reads, in part: 'Neither the supervisor nor the clerks was informed of the revised timing. Each of the files in the second cabinet need to be re-labelled before Friday. Having reviewed the applications, the shortlist was prepared by the committee. The manager, along with two clerks, are attending the meeting on Monday. Please return the forms to myself by 4 p.m. The reason is because the deadline has been advanced.' The supervisor also wants one sentence added telling an applicant what to do, without clumsy 'he or she' phrasing.
1. Identify and correct each error in the draft, naming the rule that governs it.
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| Draft | Correction | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Neither the supervisor nor the clerks was informed | were informed | With neither … nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject - clerks (plural). |
| Each of the files … need to be re-labelled | needs to be re-labelled | Each is singular; of the files is a prepositional phrase and cannot supply the subject. |
| Having reviewed the applications, the shortlist was prepared by the committee | Having reviewed the applications, the committee prepared the shortlist | Dangling modifier: the opening phrase must describe the subject of the main clause. A shortlist cannot review. |
| The manager, along with two clerks, are attending | is attending | The subject is the manager; along with two clerks is parenthetical. (Contrast The manager and two clerks are attending.) |
| return the forms to myself | return the forms to me | Myself is reflexive and needs an antecedent in the same clause as the subject; there is none. |
| The reason is because the deadline has been advanced | The deadline has been advanced because … / The reason is that … | The reason is because doubles the causal link. |
Only the first four are the ones a careful proofreader would flag on a signed notice; the last two matter more in correspondence, but on a board notice signed by a supervisor, all six should go.
2. Rewrite the last two sentences of the draft so that they are correct and suitably formal, keeping the meaning unchanged.
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Original pair: 'Please return the forms to myself by 4 p.m. The reason is because the deadline has been advanced.'
Rewrite: 'Please return the completed forms to me by 4.00 p.m. The deadline has been advanced because the audit begins on Monday.'
Why this version:
- Me, not myself - the pronoun is the object of to and has no reflexive job to do.
- The causal link is carried once, by because, instead of twice.
- Repetition of 'deadline' is removed by making one sentence do the work, which is what a notice needs; subordinate clauses stacked onto 'The reason is that…' read as an excuse rather than an instruction.
Acceptable alternative if the writer insists on the 'reason' frame: 'The reason for the earlier deadline is that the audit begins on Monday.' This keeps the noun but replaces because with that, which is the idiom that fits.
3. Draft the added sentence so that it addresses an unknown applicant politely and without 'he or she', and justify your choice against the alternatives.
Read the worked answer
Recommended: 'Applicants should submit their forms at the counter and collect a receipt.'
Why the plural is the safest fix: the sentence is generic, so the plural recasts it with no loss of meaning, no controversy and no awkwardness. It also matches the register of a public notice, where applicants is the natural category word.
Alternatives and their costs:
- Each applicant should submit his or her form - grammatically tidy but heavy, and it highlights the very problem it is trying to solve.
- Each applicant should submit their form - singular they is widely accepted and is the modern formal default in many style guides; it is defensible, but on a notice that a supervisor signs, somebody will query it, and the plural version costs nothing.
- The applicant should submit the form - acceptable, slightly bureaucratic, and it loses the sense of a queue of people.
Point of method: choose the rewrite that removes the problem rather than the one that argues about it, and keep the notice consistent - if the singular they is used once, it must be used throughout or the document looks unproofread.