Conditions of Sale

Adopted by the Standing Committee on the Society’s Establishment in Correspondence by Internet, 2026. The Committee notes that the document below is required by law, and that the law does not specify the tone.

1. The Goods

The Society supplies, on payment of the customary fee, admission to the Fellowship of the Pedants’ Society, comprising: examination (where not already sat); entry in the Register under the applicant’s own name; a Certificate of Fellowship, typeset, dispatched by electronic post; and the right to the Society’s post-nominals, placed correctly. The Society warrants that the certificate will contain no errors. Errors found in the certificate may be reported to the Errors Register, where the Society will, with as much grace as it can assemble, record them.

2. The Name

The recipient’s name is rendered on the certificate exactly as supplied at the time of purchase. The Society will not correct it. The Society wishes it noted that it could.

3. Refunds

The Society has not, in 179 years, issued a formal apology; the Standing List of Apologies the Society Has Issued, bound in black and established in 1847, remains empty. Refunds, however, are a matter of consumer law, which the Society observes — in full, under protest, and in correctly punctuated form. A purchaser who is dissatisfied with their certificate may apply to the Secretary within fourteen days of purchase for a refund, which will be issued promptly, courteously, and without the apology.

The Society notes, for completeness, that a refund issued under this clause does not remove the recipient from the Register. Admission, once minuted, is a matter of record. The Society does not, in retrospect, edit its own records; those wishing to leave the Roll may consult the procedure for resignation, or, in cases of sufficient gravity, aspire to the Struck Off page.

4. Withdrawal of Fellowship

Fellowship may be withdrawn by the Society for conduct unbecoming, including but not confined to: the use of “literally” of a figurative circumstance; the assertion that the en-dash and the em-dash are functionally interchangeable; and the misuse of the Society’s post-nominals (placed incorrectly). Withdrawal is recorded publicly. No refund is issued in respect of a withdrawal, the Society regarding the lesson as included in the original price.

5. Delivery

The certificate is dispatched by electronic post within the working day. The Society’s record of correct dispatch is set out in the account of the Royal Mail Commendation; the Society intends to maintain the standard in the electronic medium, and invites the recipient to report any failure, which will be remedied at once and entered in the Errors Register with an honesty the Society will not enjoy.

6. Governing Style

These conditions are governed by the laws of the relevant jurisdiction and by the Society’s house style, in that order, except as to the Oxford comma, where the Society’s house style prevails.

Questions arising under these conditions may be addressed to the Secretary at [email protected], who will respond, in time, to letters that observe the conventions of correspondence — and, somewhat sooner, to those that do not, the latter being easier to answer.