Proofreading Never Stops: Hockey Night Edition

Even when I'm kicking back and enjoying one of my favorite activities, the instinct to proofread, edit or grab a style guide never takes a break. You would think late-night hockey would offer a respite from grammar checks, but one misplaced hyphen and I'm in editor mode.

Check out the in-game ad that popped up during last week's Islanders–Avalanche game. See the errors?

It turned out to be a great night for the hometown Isles (woohoo!), but a forgettable one for the proofreader. Here's why:

• No hyphens after -ly adverbs like highly, easily, fully, etc.

Hyphens are used to create compound modifiers, which are multiple words connected together (by a hyphen) to form one adjective. For instance, without the hyphen, a small business loan could be interpreted as a business loan with very little cash behind it. The hyphen modifies the term small-business loan so the reader knows it's a loan for a small business. (And without the hyphen, a small business owner is an owner who's very tiny.)

With -ly adverbs, there is typically no such ambiguity. A highly rated restaurant is exactly that...a highly rated restaurant. There is no way to misinterpret. So a hyphen after these words creates unnecessary clutter.

• Duplicate use of "local"

Using the same word twice in a row is generally frowned upon. This type of error has a habit of showing up around line or page breaks.

• Spacing issues around the URL

Whether the two spaces after the (!) are intentional or not, it just looks a little off. A proofreader — if these types of ads are even reviewed by an editor at all — might suggest cutting back to one space or moving the URL to the next line.

Will these mistakes affect Ridgewood Bank in any way? No, probably not. But there's never a bad time to learn a new grammar rule or identify a trouble spot (like line breaks) and improve your writing in the future.