Episode 2: hunter or hunted?
We collect signs because it’s fun to analyze them—a mini exercise in clarity. It turns out making a clear sign is not so easy. We’ll post ones we find every so often. But keep your eyes peeled—send us ones you find, and we can write them into our blog.
Can you spot the problem in this sign?
The problem is...
This sign is missing some critical punctuation. The result? The hunters should be careful as they hunt pedestrians using the walking trails. 😳 Oops.
Did you know punctuation could save lives?
Let’s save the poor pedestrians, shall we? We have a few options:
Period—We could simply make this into two sentences by adding a period.
Hunters, please use caution when hunting. Pedestrians using walk trails.
Colon—A colon would also separate two thoughts, and the first part would announce the second part.
Hunters, please use caution when hunting: pedestrians using walk trails.
Em dash—Here could be the perfect place for an em dash, if you were looking for an opportunity to use one after last month’s article.
Hunters, please use caution when hunting—pedestrians using walk trails.
If you fancy some more information about these punctuation rules
You usually don’t capitalize the word that comes after a colon. This article explains when to use colons, and this one tells you about capitalization after colons. You can also read our article explaining different dashes and how to use them.
We invite you to play this game too
Play the Game of Signs as you move around in the world because it’s a damn fine way to strengthen your clarity skills. Send us your pictures of interesting signs (and your revised versions of them too, if you like).