In 17 years of teaching English composition in Greenville public schools, Yvonne Mason had seen these blunders many times before.
"I have never, ever, received a letter with this many silly mistakes," Mason said.
The former Mauldin High School teacher promptly did what she had done thousands of times before: She corrected the writing and returned it, this one going back to the White House.
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Signature
Mason recognizes, of course, that the form letter she received from the president was very likely written by a staff member, not Trump, though the letter does include Trump's signature. It came in reply to a letter she'd written about the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida.
A photo of Mason's corrections has been widely shared on social media.
"When you get letters from the highest level of government, you expect them to be at least mechanically correct," Mason said.
D Grade
She dinged the Trump letter particularly for repeatedly capitalizing "nation," "federal," "president" and "state," turning these common nouns into proper nouns.
Using her signature purple ink — since harsh red ink is discouraged by some educators these days — Mason identified 11 instances of faulty capitalization in Trump's letter.
"If it had been written in middle school, I'd give it a C or C-plus," she said. "If it had been written in high school, I'd give it a D."