The University of Canterbury has made an embarrassing grammatical blunder in its advertising campaign, as observable at various bus stops in both Auckland and Wellington.
The guilty billboard contains a quote from a commerce student at Canterbury, which reads: “I chose [the University of Canterbury] for it’s [sic] beautiful campus and city’s reputation.”
The incorrect use of the apostrophe in the word “it’s” renders the sentence nonsensical.
Canterbury’s acting Vice-Chancellor Ian Town told the New Zealand Herald that he had been unaware of the mistake and did not know who was responsible. However, he took the situation in good humour, describing it as the “curse of the apostrophe.”
“University, the pinnacle of high education,” he added.
Town said he did not believe that the error would reduce the attractiveness of Canterbury for potential students, citing the University’s good reputation in subjects such as information and communications technology and engineering.
Canterbury is not the only university in the country to have committed bad grammar, with the University of Auckland issuing thousands of its calendars several years ago, with the word “calendar” misspelled.
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