Jump to content
UK EditionAsia EditionEdición en Español
Sign up to our newslettersSubscribe now
More
Best
Climate
TV

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Susanna Richards

Susanna Richards is a senior sub-editor at The Independent. She is the author of The Independent’s new style guide, which she compiled in her spare time.

<p>No one wants to buy onions when a dog, or indeed a pig, has been at them </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Apropostrophe

<p>The troubles of passengers stuck at Dubai international airport (file image) cannot be overstated </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Friendly fire

<p>Witchcraft is not recommended as a method to determine the right word to use in copy. That is what the style guide is for </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: The whiching hour

<p>A so-called grisly bear (top left) does its best to look fearsome </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Grey matter

<p>Prog shock: a visitor to a future world marvels at the improvement in charging facilities </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Nowhere fast

<p>Multiple births are not altogether uncommon, but the term does not generally refer to being born more than once</p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Special delivery

<p>Dr Philippe Pinel oversees the removal of chains from a patient – let’s call her Melody – at the Paris asylum for women who do not care for grammatical prescriptiveness </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Due diligence

<p>It is never in our interest to sensationalise the news</p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Read all about it

<p>Here comes the science bit: you can’t expect journalists to know about these things </p>
Errors & Omissions

Mea Culpa: Re diffusion

<p>Some phrasal verbs and assorted syntactic nuisances torment a team of sub-editors </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: A singular preposition

<p>A group of government ministers consult a visionary prior to committing to anything on Radio 4 </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Future proofing

<p>‘A weed is just a plant in the wrong place.’ Well, quite. Now off you go </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Gardening leave

<p>An editor encounters an unexpected etymology </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Rifling about

Voices

Mea Culpa: Rifling about

Head shot of Susanna Richards
Susanna Richards
<p>An editor encounters an unexpected etymology </p>
<p>‘She had the look of a woman whose punctuational needs had been satisfied’ </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Easy reading

<p>Some Belgian aeronauts being subjected to assistance by British sailors in about 1880 </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: A subject lesson

<p>Suddenly they were everywhere </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Keeping the peace

<p>A chair of unknown gender ponders its existence </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Chair and chair alike

<p>A chair of unknown gender ponders its existence </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Chair and chair alike

<p>A Southwest 737 flying in what looks to me like a straight line </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Round we go again

<p>A restorative Christmas to one and all </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Ripping yarns

<p>That’s not the Jules Rimet trophy either </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Labouring the point

<p>A disappointed prime-ministerial candidate is rowed gently back to shore</p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Winds of change

<p>A harmless creature like the comma should be handled with care, respect, and a little trepidation </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Serial killers

<p>A Roman bravely vanquishes a modern plural, as a sub from the future looks on </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Umming and ahhing

<p>High and dry: another phrase that doesn’t require hyphens </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Joined-up thinking

<p>‘Majuscule’ and ‘minuscule’ are the names for the upper- and lower-case letters used in printing </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Little letters

<p>A Roman bravely vanquishes a modern plural, as a sub from the future looks on </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Umming and ahhing

<p>High and dry: another phrase that doesn’t require hyphens </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Joined-up thinking

<p>‘Majuscule’ and ‘minuscule’ are the names for the upper- and lower-case letters used in printing </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Little letters

<p>The Happy Mondays, blithely indifferent to the principles of grammar </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Rack and ruin

Voices

Mea Culpa: Rack and ruin

Head shot of Susanna Richards
Susanna Richards
<p>The Happy Mondays, blithely indifferent to the principles of grammar </p>
<p>When our own headlines are in accidental doublespeak, we’re in trouble </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Clause and effect

<p>‘Shall I compare thee with a summer’s day?’ would imply a rather different sentiment </p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Minding our Ps and Qs

<p>The Latin word ‘prodigium’ – something extraordinary, once interpreted as a sign from the gods – is the origin of the word ‘prodigy’</p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Signs and wonders

<p>An underwater creature, happiest under water</p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Advocating the proper use of verbs

<p>An underwater creature, happiest under water</p>
Voices

Mea Culpa: Advocating the proper use of verbs

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in