Can you tell the difference between "in the newspaper" and "in the newspaper"?
The 2018 professional baseball tournament has begun! While I was waiting for the bus, I didn’t forget to connect to PTT’s Baseball Board (opens in a new tab) to learn about the latest professional baseball developments in various countries around the world.
The result was shocking: something big happened! I saw a netizen reposting a piece of Korean Professional Baseball News (opens in a new tab). It turns out that [Wang Weizhong], who just won his first game in the Korean Professional Baseball League a few days ago (https://www.pmevo.today/2018/03/k (opens in a new tab) orea-baseball-game-ui-design.html), will soon have a “fast showdown” with Kim Kwang-hyun (opens in a new tab). Well, this is really an exciting battle…
However, I was even more surprised when I saw the headlines in online media!
A reporter from ETtoday News Cloud (opens in a new tab) actually wrote the news that Wang Weizhong appeared in the media as “Wang Weizhong appeared in the newspaper to announce the upcoming duel with Kim Kwang-hyun (opens in a new tab)”. Although there are only two words different between “Published in the newspaper” and “Published in the newspaper”, they are worlds apart! I thought Wang Weizhong, a former major league player living in the United States, was so courageous that he actually spent his own money to publish a newspaper to challenge his opponents… Wow, isn’t this awesome?
It took a long time, but it turned out that the reporter was not paying attention (he typed too fast?). Fortunately, now connected to ETtoday News Cloud (opens in a new tab), the title of this report has been corrected to “Han Zhi/Wang Weizhong appears in the newspaper, Korean media previews a quick showdown with Kim Kwang-hyun (opens in a new tab)”.
“Old Tang Book·Volume 200·Biography of Zhu Si and others·Shi Chen said”: “A slight difference in the cover can lead to a loss of thousands of miles, a snake’s sting cannot break the wrist, and an ant nest damages the embankment.”
The smallest text trap
Whether it is publishing an apology in a newspaper (reminiscent of Facebook CEO Zuckerberg’s recent apology statement for the leak of personal information (https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180327000264-260203 (opens in a new tab))), being published in a newspaper to invalidate it, or recruiting people, most of them mean actively paying to use the media; but “being published in a newspaper” does not necessarily mean being reported and interviewed by the media. Although they are both on the pages of newspapers, the meanings in them are quite different!
In this Internet age, typing mistakes seems to be a common thing, but as the saying goes, “a slight difference can lead to a loss of thousands of miles.” Especially the media and publishing houses that are responsible for content production really have to be more careful when dealing with it!
To avoid typos, the simplest and most effective way is not to rush to send it directly after writing the article. It is best to check it twice, or ask colleagues or supervisors to help confirm the meaning of the article.
★ Photo Credit: Keith Johnston (opens in a new tab)
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Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
