Some can’t be bothered with this despicably boring stuff and say it’s a waste of time to learn it in school.
Yet I wonder how you would feel if you had to stare at this “Truly Asia” ad for many hours on an AirAsia flight.
Would you squirm in your seat as I did? (Admittedly, I drink lots of water on flights and often feel like I need the loo, but, alas, the queue …)
So here’s two questions:
1. Can you pick the grammatical mistake?
2. How many millions did they spend on the ad campaign?
As for me, I think that copywriters and all those who want to communicate with the written word should know at least some grammar. If not, then they need to use an editor (that’s a person, not software!)
I wonder though how many grammatical mistakes I’ve made with this post. I’ve got 2 good reasons.
1) I don’t use an editor for my blog
2) I can’t find my reading glasses!
I’ll venture a guess
(1) The ad says: “From shopping at premium shopping malls and sampling the best of Malaysian cuisine…” It should read: “From shopping at premium shopping malls TO sampling the best of Malaysian cuisine…” (“from… to” rule)
(2) Also: “.. discover a melting pot of cultures that make Malaysia…” should be “discover a melting pot of cultures that MAKES Malaysia…” (the copywriter mistakenly referred to “cultures” which is plural instead of “melting pot” which is singular).
It isn’;t just the grammar that’s questionable. The ad is just not well written. It irritates me that it uses the same word (“shopping”) twice in one sentence.
Took me a while, but I finally found the error. ‘Tis a very sneaky one. (I’m relieved I found it! I was doubting my skills in grammar for a moment there…)
And while this isn’t an error, it just sticks in my craw that they choose to spell “mesmerizing” with a “z”.
Grammar is a part of English, as important as spelling itself. To do away grammar is to take away a vital part of the language. But people today hard care about grammar, or, oh, even spelling. they use ”
, aka, asap, btw, u, i, v, lol, …”
I guess, in the information era, the important thing is to let people know what you want and mean, only…
Great work, folks!