Six-year grammar war ends

Grammatical sanctity has been restored at the Red River College Exchange District Campus, Morley Walker reports in the Winnipeg Free Press.

The donor plaque in the campus library now sports proper English, he says.

So who is the long-secret "grammatically stern Red River insider" who tipped Walker to the impropriety?

It is I.

Here’s some honest feedback

Are books dead? I say no.

Are book publishers dead? That’s a tougher question.

Is literacy dead at book publishers? Apparently so.

At least it lies whimpering in the gutter at McGraw-Hill Ryerson, according to an email notice of a survey conducted by the venerable Canadian company in October 2010. The message I received announced:

This customer survey has been designed to help McGraw-Hill Ryerson refine our skills and knowledge in order to offer you the best customer experience possible.

Our shared purpose is to be the leading learning solutions provider source:

- dedicated to excellence

- recognized for our collaborative learning solutions

- enabling instructor’s to provide the best learning experience possible for their students.

We ask for your honest feedback.

OK, here's some.

Please translate into English: "the leading learning solutions provider source."

Please learn to use apostrophes properly: "instructor’s."

Then you can ask me to fill out a survey. Or to buy a book. Preferably one written in proper English.