A few weeks ago I shared with you a <a title="What’s a comma worth?" href="http://deborahbrody.com/2017/12/whats-a-comma-worth/">picture of a postcard</a> that advertised a townhouse for sale at more than $5 million. It was an error that would have been caught by a copy editor but likely not by a proofreader. That's because a proofreader seeks and corrects mistakes such as typos, misspellings, extra words, repeated words, and other errors. A proofreader does not look at the content, and rarely queries amounts. A copy editor, on the other hand, goes beyond checking for mistakes, and also verifies that sentences are clear and accurate (e.g., the correct address, the right day of the week, the correct amount, etc.).

Sadly, there are many examples of printed materials that needed a copy editor, or at the very least, a proofreader to check them, and did not get either. My goal is to find these examples and share them with you.

Today, I was looking at the back of a Sunsweet Prunes package:

<a href="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20180227_114313.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3681" src="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20180227_114313-300x225.jpg" alt="20180227_114313" width="300" height="225" /></a>

Can you spot the mistake? Here's a hint: it's subject-verb agreement.

A grammatically correct sentence would read:

We believe making good food choices<span style="color: #ff0000;"> <em>is</em></span> critical to treating your body right and living life to its fullest.

Subject-verb (dis)agreement is a very common mistake. The subject should always match the verb, that is, a singular subject needs a singular verb, and a plural subject needs a plural verb. Lots of people have problems identifying what the subject is, and further, they are thrown off  when they see a plural ("food choices") that goes right before the verb.  In this sentence, the plural "food choices" is not the subject, rather the singular "making good food choices" is the subject.

I am truly astounded that a large company would make this type of mistake in their packaging. Someone should hire a copy editor over there!

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