Last night was the monthly meeting of Swallow Bookworms, and our discussion book was Lynn Truss's* "Eats Shoots and Leaves". In the discussion (10 to 2 in favour) it transpired that no fewer than four of us were English grammar freaks who had always loved parsing. All four are between 50 and 65 and went to a girls' grammar school - or rather three girls' grammar schools.
After a bit of discussion I handed out this task which my mother used to give to her teen-age pupils. (You will see from the prices that this was a good few years ago.)
The idea is that Mr.Jones has retired and left Mr. Smith as manager of his shop. When he sees this window he sacks Mr.Smith and gives you the job on condition you can correct every error.
Have fun. We did.
*"Truss's" - I put the third s in in deference to her prejudices. It is not what we were taught - see doggerel.blog.co.uk
