Can a single typo or grammatical error spoil a book? Ann Patty, a distinguished editor for several big publishers and now a freelance editor, says absolutely. The latest offense is what professionals call a howler. Patty cites an incorrect use in the runaway bestseller Go the F*ck to Sleep.

The offensive line is: “The lambs have laid down with the sheep.”

It should of course be “lain”. Given the fact that confusion about the use of the verbs lie and lay is one of the commonest in the English-speaking world, the goof comes as no surprise. But what appalls Patty is that the editor didn’t catch it, an oversight eliciting this outburst: “The written word, when printed and bound, must be held to the highest standards. Editors, copy editors, and proofreaders, please clean up your act, do your job, and learn the f**king rules!”

It is dangerous to be too high-minded about such things, however, as was exemplified not long ago in the “Metropolitan Diary” feature of the New York Times:

Visiting an editor at Random House, I stepped into a crowded elevator and found myself pressed close to the control panel.

”Has everybody got their floors?” I asked.

After a moment’s silence, a young female voice from the rear said, ”His or her.”

”I beg your pardon?” I said.

”His or her. It’s ‘Has everybody got his or her floors?’ Your pronouns don’t agree.”

”And shouldn’t it be ‘his or her floor’, not ‘floors’?” a young man piped up. ”Each of us gets off at only one floor.”

”And wouldn’t it be better to say ‘Does everybody have?’ rather than ‘Has everybody got?’ ” a third voice chimed in.

I stood corrected — and red faced. But I was glad to know that good grammar is alive and well.

The unfortunate perpetrator of those gaffes was… yours truly.

Read Ann Patty’s rant in full: Learn the F**king Rules!

Richard Curtis