I spent a lot of time editing brief bios for programs. These are the mistakes I expect to correct multiple times in each batch.
- “apart.” Students are often happy to be “apart” of the production when they really mean they are happy to be “a part” of it.
- “highschool.” High school is two words, and if it’s a specific high school, like Rockford High School, it should be capitalized.
- Capitalization. I expect this is because most students are writing these on their phones, but capitalization is always rare – often including the students’ own names! I always correct this, though this means I would have disappointed e.e. cummings if he had written a bio I edited.
There are always more, unexpected errors – if the title of the production is hard to spell like Seussical for example, then that will be one to watch for. It’s always a challenge to keep the voice of the student while correcting clear typos.
The most common ones are added to the Google Form for future productions, in the hopes that students know and avoid their most likely errors. We can’t learn if we don’t receive correction.