Updated 14 September 2019 at 13:28 IST
British Library commits 'grammatical error' in its own advertisement
In a bid to advertise its premises, the British Library recently put up an advertisement outside their building, which contained a grammatical mistake.
- World News
- 2 min read

The British Library is the last institution which one would expect to commit a grammatical mistake. But, they did.
In a bid to advertise its premises, the British Library recently put up an advertisement outside their building. The sign shared by a Twitter user reads 'Shops. Cafés. The whole wealth of human knowledge, endeavour and experience to date. Events. Exhibitions.' While people initially applauded the clever wording of the advertisement, they soon realised the British Library's grammatical error. Netizens have wondered where is the 'Oxford comma' between the words 'endeavour and experience'. The tweet has since then gone viral, getting 20,000 likes and 3400 retweets as of Saturday.
British Library's grammatical error
Great advert from the British Library pic.twitter.com/svWmLvM8Wh
— Peter Hornsby (@DrPeterHornsby) September 9, 2019
Netizens were soon to spot the grammatical error:
Love it! But where is the Oxford comma?????
— Le Moyne Library (@LeMoyneLibrary) September 9, 2019
The arrogance of this is ironic, for there is no ignorance greater than a claim of complete knowledge
— Geeta N (@GirlyDisposish) September 10, 2019
The lack of the Oxford comma is killing me.
— Jay Aronson (@jaydaronson) September 10, 2019
Some question need for comma, get shot down
There were a few who had stated that the Oxford comma was unnecessary in the particular sentence, tweeting, "Besides, isn’t it an Americanism?". But these netizens were immediately shot down by Britons who deemed that the Oxford comma was absolutely necessary in that sentence. Some went a step forward stating, 'It's always necessary'. Netizens are also aghast that the 'British Library' did not employ an 'Oxford comma'.
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British Library unconcerned
Meanwhile, the British Library itself has not been concerned by its mistake. It has not responded or tweeted anything in return. News reports state that the library has quite enjoyed the publicity its advertisement has recieved. It has reportedly stated that it has received a "very positive response" after the sign went up earlier this month.
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Published By : Suchitra Karthikeyan
Published On: 14 September 2019 at 13:13 IST