1) ”You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”
Well, if you want to make a good first impression, watch the direction of your quotation marks and don’t forget the period at the end of your sentence! Two punctuation mistakes in one sentence is not going to impress anyone.
2) In 2003, Joker Marchant Stadium was renovated. The State of Florida’s $4.5 million grant was the biggest financing chuck, while the Polk County Tourist Development Council chipped in $2 million.
Another jewel from Wikipedia. If people can’t spell, don’t you think it, well, I dunno…hurts their credibility??
3) If for any reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, simply return it for a refund (excluding shipping and handling) within 1-year of purchase date.
What’s that hyphen doing there?
4) He will give you practical tips on running a booth at a trade show, so many that you will go “I should have known that, why didn’t I do that!”.
Gee, I hope none of you ever, ever, ever use “go” for “said” like this. Ugh, talk about looking uneducated! Then there’s the nasty run-on sentence. But then, then my friends we see the rare bit of punctuation at the end. I don’t know what to call it, but it’s certainly not seen often! Never put periods outside quotation marks unless you are British, and never, ever use an exclamation point with a period. There are no circumstances in life when you’d do that.
Of these horrible mistakes, the one that just sends shivers down my spine, though, is that “go” for “said.” Wow. This is a candidate for World’s Worst Sentence! A real contender!
5) 4 Hour Workshop – in addition to everything covered in the two hour workshop, this interactive session will help you develop 30, 60 and 90 Second Infomercials to help you properly promote your business at trade shows and beyond, teach you how to Disengage the Tire Kickers, and help you develop Power Questions specific to your business.
Okay, again, multiple mistakes. When you don’t know one rule, the rule seems to be that you don’t know any.
Mistake #1: 4-hour Workshop. You need that hyphen because 4-Hour modifies “Workshop.”
Mistake #2: That would mean that it’s “2-hour workshop.”
Mistake #3: Hyphens are a mystery to this writer, so it’s not surprising that he or she doesn’t know the suspended hyphen rule, which means the sentence should read:
30-, 60-, and 90-second infomericals. (No caps: none of these words are proper nouns.)
Possible Mistake #4: I’m not sure if the phrases “Disengage Tire Kickers” and “Power Questions” refer to something specific that this speaker is offering, but, if so, the phrases should be in quotes; if not, lower case it all.
6) You’ll read about each author, how their speech came to be, the speech itself and the dissection of the speech which reveals the many techniques used to add humour that so many speakers overlook when giving presentations. There’s an old saying in the speaking business, “You don’t have to use humour… unless you want to get paid!”
Don’t say anything about “humour”—this guy is in Canada and so follows British English rules.
However, he has made the all-too-common mistake of not having his noun agree with his pronoun: each author is singular, and so the pronoun should be his or her speech.
7) Find out how to win the loyalty of employees and customers, how to stand out from the competition, how to make your workplace fun and enjoyable , and much more.
Got to watch those extra spaces! That dangling comma after “enjoyable” is so glaring that you can tell no one bothered to check the work.
8) Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll learn :
• How to build credibility, market and position yourself as an expert authority on your speaking subject matter.
• How to go from speaking for free to getting paid engagements
• How to reach a wider audience and deliver your message with impact
• How to set your speaker fees based on a simply formula
• How to find and book speaking engagements and get referrals
• And generating income a professional speaker
Three mistakes is this bullet point list:
Extra space after “learn” and the colon.
The first phrase has a period after it. Either they all do or none of them do, but you can’t mix it up.
The last item doesn’t follow the lead of the previous items.
9) Here’s just a taster of what you’ll get on this free training:
• How to build credibility, market and position yourself as an expert authority on your speaking subject matter.
• How to go from speaking for free to getting paid engagements
• How to reach a wider audience and deliver your message with impact
• How to set your speaker fees based on a simply formula
• How to find and book speaking engagements and get referrals
• And generating income a professional speaker
This is by the same people, and, gee, they made the same mistakes: first item has a period and the last item doesn’t “go” with the previous items.
However, they added a little wrinkle by introducing two typos into the mix! Do you see ’em? And these people are talking about professionalism! First line: “taster.” Fourth item: “simple” formula. Very sloppy.
10) The 6-Figure Speaker The Ultimate Blueprint To Build A Business As A Highly-Paid Professional Speaker
Never hyphenate an –ly adverb. I thought everyone knew this rule, but evidently not: this is the (published) book title and this mistake is on the cover. Right. There. On. The. Cover.
11) “ The 6 Figure Speaker Is Coming…”
Save the women and children, the 6-Figure Speaker is Coming! Well, there’s an extra space between the first quote and the first word. And there needs to be a hyphen in 6-Figure. And, don’t capitalize “it” in this situation.
12) His exciting talks and seminars on Leadership, Selling, Self-Esteem, Goals, Strategy, Creativity and Success Psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results.
Why all the capitalization? None of these words are proper nouns.…
13) I want you to among the first to read it, it’s my way of showing my gratitude to the fact you’ve trusted me in your journey.
This is a great example of a comma splice. A comma splice happens when you link two complete sentences with just a comma. Here you have three options: make two complete sentences two by separating the (now) one sentence with a period; use a semicolon; or use a comma plus a conjunction like “and.” And, you don’t show gratitude “to,” you show gratitude “for.”
14) However, it’s only free for the next 36 hours, after that it’s going up to the full list price.
This is also a comma splice, but here the choice is simple: use a semicolon to link these two very related sentences.
15) And inside the book I reveal all the tips, tricks, strategies and secrets I’ve discovered and developed over a 30 year speaking career.
This should read 30-year speaking career. Got to have that hyphen.
16) There are four kinds of pauses you can use to put more power into your presentations. They are, “The Sense Pause”, “The Dramatic Pause”, “The Emphatic Pause”, and “The Sentence-Completion Pause”.
Wow. Where to start. Okay. No italics in this situation. None. Quotation marks are placed OUTSIDE periods and commas. And I would have stuck a colon after “presentations” and gone from there. Horrible.
17) If you want more tips like these, I’m launching a new book called the 6-Figure Speaker and I am taking reservations to get it absolutely free for the next few days. Click the the button below to learn more.
This is a terrific example of the power of putting your text into Word. Word catches those sneaky repeated words that are so so difficult to see!
18) It also gives you speaking cues, incase you lose your train of thought.
Hooray for Word! Again, lots of times it will help you catch a missing space. Why people don’t use Word before publishing is beyond me!
19) PLUS, I’m including FOUR additional FREE BONUS VIDEOS: “Effective Communication Signals”, so you can master eight hidden communication signals!
Wow, someone who can’t write or spell and who doesn’t know basic punctuation and grammar is going to give me FREE BONUS VIDEOS about how to master the eight hidden communication signals. Be still my heart!
Seriously, folks, quotation marks are always placed outside commas or periods in American English. Always.
20) Communicate your idea in a 2-4 minute video.
That hyphen is incorrect. When you want to show a range of something numeric, use an “n” dash, which can be created by holding down ALT and pressing 0150 in that order on the keyboard to your far right. You could also use the suspended hyphen rule: a 2- to 4-minute video.
21) Ensure that the production value of the the video is good.
Oh, those pesky repeated words! So easy to find if you stick your text into Word!
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