Please, someone, tell me TOG has corrected this error...

[Jane]

I was researching TOG because I noticed so many of you use it, and low-and-behold on one of their sample pages in bold they have written:

 

*Lower Grammer

*Upper Grammer

 

How did such an error even make it past their editors? In the rest of the document they spell grammar properly.

 

I realize we all make spelling errors and I usually delight in finding typos, but this one is a personal pet peeve--especially in a school curriculum.

 

Here's the link to the PDF: http://www.lampstandpress.com/egypt/pdf/1-01%20SAP.pdf

[Queen of Sheba]

I had to click on your link to believe it! YIPE!

[1bassoon]

Oh, wow!

 

I just opened my TOG Y1/U1/Wk1 and. . . .

 

It IS there! :tongue_smilie:

 

I hate that stuff too. But I love, love TOG! Anyone told Lampstand about it? I don't have the most recent printing. . . . .

[Mamagistra]

It is particularly cringe-inducing in educational materials, isn't it? I have a set of printable geography materials with at least one country name misspelled. :glare:

[laylamcb]

Oh, wow!

 

I just opened my TOG Y1/U1/Wk1 and. . . .

 

It IS there! :tongue_smilie:

 

 

 

No WAY. That's...wow. In educational circles, "grammar" is one of those "wake up and really read this" proofreader words: It's frequently misspelled, so it's one that any entry-level proofreader should do a double-take on to ensure that it's spelled correctly.

 

Yikes!

[Staci in MO]

I'm wondering if that particular graphic was inserted later as an image, which perhaps made it harder to catch? Hopefully?

 

I remember in the first WTM where German is listed as one of the Romance Languages. There used to be a pretty humorous correction somewhere on this website (which is the only reason why I'm bringing it up). I'm sure SWB was horrified when she first saw that in print.

 

It happens to the best of us. I'm very thankful for the edit function on these boards. :)

[Blueridge]

I saw this error in my brand new volume and reported it on their forum a *year* ago. :confused:

[Trivium Academy]

I find this thread very petty, if anyone expects perfection from any product you're setting yourself up for disappointment. When you're on the other end and produce a massive curriculum product that involves as much work as producing a product like TOG and it's perfect, then you may have a right to be so picky.

 

As a former graphic designer, I know the amount of work that goes into creating such a product, the many hours that go into creating something so intricate, the many hands and systems it passes through before printing. Unless they have an expensive and elaborate quality control system in place like the ISO 9000 system that catches everything through checks, more checks and rechecks, mistakes will happen.

 

It is highly idealistic to expect absolute perfection from any curricula, especially one as detailed as TOG.

[Holly IN]

I love TOG and it doesn't bother me about the misspelling. I have seen errors in almost all the curriculams I have used. Most are so minor that you have to be looking for it.

 

I would have just glanced at the misspellings on that TOG page and just not notice the misspellings at all.

 

I ditto the SWB mistake on the German Romance language. Every time I read that I just snicker. :D

 

Mistakes happen and that makes us all human!!

 

Holly

[Mrs Mungo]

While mistakes certainly do happen and we are all human, it is not unreasonable to expect curricula companies to correct their mistakes.

[Colleen]

I find this thread very petty, if anyone expects perfection from any product you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

I don't consider it petty to expect words be spelled correctly, particularly in educational materials. That is a grossly obvious error and if it was actually reprinted without correction, I find that odd. If I used and enjoyed TOG, this alone certainly wouldn't lead me to drop the program, of course. On the other hand, there have been programs I've chosen not to use because the publications were rife with errors.

[Mama Lynx]

 

I don't consider it petty to expect words be spelled correctly, particularly in educational materials. That is a grossly obvious error and if it was actually reprinted without correction, I find that odd. If I used and enjoyed TOG, this alone certainly wouldn't lead me to drop the program, of course. On the other hand, there have been programs I've chosen not to use because the publications were rife with errors.

 

Same here. As a former copy editor/manager of a copy desk, I'd have *died* if I had let that error through. Especially with the subject being education - ugh.

 

A good copy editor strives for perfection. The goal is to have no errors. When an error gets through, the company should fix it at the earliest possible reprint. It does reflect on TOG and everyone at that company, and it behooves TOG to maintain a professional, academic appearance.

 

And yes, I like their materials. I'd say the same if SWB or Drew had a similar error (and I know they both want to know when errors are found, so that they can be corrected on reprint).

[melmac]

:iagree: and I'm waiting on some TOG materials I recently ordered. This has me worried.

 

 

 

 

I don't consider it petty to expect words be spelled correctly, particularly in educational materials. That is a grossly obvious error and if it was actually reprinted without correction, I find that odd. If I used and enjoyed TOG, this alone certainly wouldn't lead me to drop the program, of course. On the other hand, there have been programs I've chosen not to use because the publications were rife with errors.

[Trivium Academy]

I noticed it when I first received it, I turned the page and kept on trucking. If it bothered me to the point I lost faith in the program then I would return the whole she-bang and not look back. I've seen numerous mistakes in many curricula and overlooked it b/c my purpose in selecting the product (or previewing it) was not to judge keystrokes, it was to see if it contained the message, materials and helps I was looking for.

 

Now, if someone had posted that they found many answers to discussion questions wrong or that there are serious underlining prejudices in a product that undermines what the product advertises itself to be, THEN I would have an issue. One or two misspellings of the same word in a solitary place of a curriculum that is so much more than just the two measly pages...c'mon! That is petty.

 

Petty

:small, minor

having secondary rank or importance

marked by or reflective of narrow interests and sympathies

[DB in NJ]

This reminds me of an advertisement I received promoting a local Christian school. There were grammar errors, spelling errors, etc. in the ad. I was floored. They wanted $5,000 a year to educate my child, and they send me THIS??? Uh, let's just say it didn't flood me with feelings of confidence! Regardless of the quality of education provided by the school, their advertisement disqualified them in my eyes.

 

Also, a few years ago I tried the latest and greatest unit study to be published. It was FULL of typos. To the point where it was a distraction. I couldn't get past the typos; it made me lose confidence in the message (content) -- it was that bad.

 

One more thing: I bought a writing curriculum a few years ago that had a bunch of typos, poor punctuation, etc. I called the author (the book was self-published) and told her. She asked me to go through the book, circle errors I found, and make corrections. In exchange, I got another copy of the corrected edition and a free copy of Volume II of their program. I didn't get credit in the 2nd edition of the book (how's THAT for petty? It kind of hurt my feelings a bit, but I got over it). ;)

 

If I'm paying a lot of money for a curriculum such as TOG, I DO expect them to at least be able to catch something as simple as "grammer". A misplaced comma? Sure. Let it go. An obvious typo here and there? Of course. But GRAMMAR??? C'mon. I don't think that's too much to ask. Of course, that in and of itself would NOT be enough to stop me from using it (if I were brave enough to use TOG, that is). :D

 

Just my .02.

[Karenciavo]

I noticed it when I first received it, I turned the page and kept on trucking. If it bothered me to the point I lost faith in the program then I would return the whole she-bang and not look back. I've seen numerous mistakes in many curricula and overlooked it b/c my purpose in selecting the product (or previewing it) was not to judge keystrokes, it was to see if it contained the message, materials and helps I was looking for.

 

Now, if someone had posted that they found many answers to discussion questions wrong or that there are serious underlining prejudices in a product that undermines what the product advertises itself to be, THEN I would have an issue. One or two misspellings of the same word in a solitary place of a curriculum that is so much more than just the two measly pages...c'mon! That is petty.

 

Petty

:small, minor

having secondary rank or importance

marked by or reflective of narrow interests and sympathies

 

I agree Jessica.

[tristangrace]

Hmmm . . . It's true that it is "merely human" to make errors. And it's true that misspellings are "of secondary importance" in evaluating a curriculum.

 

On the other hand, finding and correcting said errors isn't exactly a superhuman skill, is it? And perhaps I'm reading into the tone of some of the posts here, but it seems like some folks think that petty mistakes of this sort just ought not to be mentioned. It seems odd to expect people to politely avert their eyes in this situation. A misspelling in an e-mail? Impolite to point it out, I think. A typo in a neighborhood newsletter published by volunteers? Eh, I'd probably let that slide, too. Once you get to the level of professional business communication--like a sign or an ad--and I think you're doing a disservice to the business owner (and to the community) if you don't care whether it's corrected or not. And educational curricula ought to have the highest standards of all, IMHO.

 

Is it really a breach of good manners to comment on how poorly it reflects on the publisher of educational materials to just let an error sit there? I don't think so.

 

Susan

[Laurie4b]

That would be my approach, too, especially given TOG's roots as a co-op mom's production. I have used year 2 of TOG and found the materials extremely well planned and thought out. I can overlook a mispelling or two in that much material.

[WTMindy]

I find this thread very petty, if anyone expects perfection from any product you're setting yourself up for disappointment. When you're on the other end and produce a massive curriculum product that involves as much work as producing a product like TOG and it's perfect, then you may have a right to be so picky.

 

As a former graphic designer, I know the amount of work that goes into creating such a product, the many hours that go into creating something so intricate, the many hands and systems it passes through before printing. Unless they have an expensive and elaborate quality control system in place like the ISO 9000 system that catches everything through checks, more checks and rechecks, mistakes will happen.

 

It is highly idealistic to expect absolute perfection from any curricula, especially one as detailed as TOG.

 

I agree with you, Jessica!! The best thing would be to email them privately and help them rather than pointing it out to a lot of other people. I am the queen of making stupid mistakes like that so I can completely understand how little things get through.

[Trivium Academy]

There is nothing wrong with notifying TOG about this but to expect immediate action when they are (and have been) in a 4 year production schedule trying to put out a revised product on a tight schedule. They have revised pages at their website available for printing/download, I didn't check for a corrected page b/c it doesn't matter to me, this solitary two page misspelling of grammar in only 2 places.

 

I'm all about letting the company, publisher, author know of any mistakes- it is part of the business relationship. I do it all the time, without posting about it on a board. I am confident that any mistakes will be corrected and new pages will be available as part of an update. I'd rather them focus on getting the new product out and researching/obtaining the necessary books for the new product.

[Trivium Academy]

I emailed TOG about this error and they are correcting it ASAP as per an email by Dana Caywood

 

"Thanks so much for letting me know! We definitely need to correct that asap!! (The three week “Go to Egypt” sample was actually made available before we had gone to press, and my guess is that it didn’t get by our editors through the same process.)"