Correct spelling and grammar
When I was in the Army, I would often send letters home. My father had a habit which I hated then but now am rather grateful for. He would correct my spelling and grammar and send the letters back to me. I was often annoyed by this but the message stuck. Being able to communicate precisely is a great asset for us all. This is often pointed out by some of the letters in the Forums. I often have trouble figuring out what point the writer is trying to make. To make matters worse, the writer is often unaware of what it means to be succinct. Brevity is not their long suit. I know that this will have little effect in the Forums but, when writing, please be brief, use proper grammar and use your spell checker. Thanks for letting me have my say. DesertRat.
I can not agree more. We have enough problems with our public image. It is a shame that visitors to this siteread posts which make us sound like a group of uneducated idiots. We wear clothes not cloths. There is a difference between there, their and they're. Unfortunately, spell check can notmake the distinction.
Yes, spell check will not help with your and you're. Nor will it help with loose and lose or new and knew. I once saw an article written on the computer where the wrong word was used for every homophone and the spell checker let it go through. Wish I could find that article. It was fun to read. Or should that be reed?
I agree spelling and grammar are very important. I'm not sure it works though when someone is called out for their mistakes online.I am higher up in our company and often write and review policies, procedures, technical documents, test plans, reports, etc. I also have interviewed many people over the years and read their cover letters and resumes. We have a core group of people in this company that are very anal when it comes to spelling and grammar. We often refer back to official style manuals and actually debate grammar rules! Yeah, we're a bunch of nerd engineers.But, accuracy is important. We look at it the same as engineering data. A mistake in spelling or grammar can change the meaning of a sentence in a technical document. We can't have that in our business.And, unfortunately for prospective employees, if there is a mistake in a cover letter or resume, it may mean the end of your job search with us. To us, it shows a lack of accuracy, a lack of planning, and sloppiness (if you can't spell, find someone else to review it for you).
Aside from that, it's 80 degs today, and I'll be naked all day.
I agree spelling and grammar are very important. I'm not sure it works though when someone is called out for their mistakes online.I am higher up in our company and often write and review policies, procedures, technical documents, test plans, reports, etc. I also have interviewed many people over the years and read their cover letters and resumes. We have a core group of people in this company that are very anal when it comes to spelling and grammar. We often refer back to official style manuals and actually debate grammar rules! Yeah, we're a bunch of nerd engineers.But, accuracy is important. We look at it the same as engineering data. A mistake in spelling or grammar can change the meaning of a sentence in a technical document. We can't have that in our business.And, unfortunately for prospective employees, if there is a mistake in a cover letter or resume, it may mean the end of your job search with us. To us, it shows a lack of accuracy, a lack of planning, and sloppiness (if you can't spell, find someone else to review it for you).Aside from that, it's 80 degs today, and I'll be naked all day.
I see a couple of punctuation errors in the above. And degs is not a word.
In our technical writing course in college we learned about an actual court caseinvolving over a million dollarsthat revolved around a single, misplaced comma. As Bill Clinton said "That depends upon what is, is." or something to that effect.
I always try to do my best, but English isn't my strongest point but try to do the best I can and use spell checker and change the wording to get over the problem. Grammar I always do my best but the worst thing is people who are very cleaver at these things and think it is big to point out other peoples faults.
I've done commercial writing, and can certainly use conventional style. But we are in a different world now, where texts have replaced telephone calls, and a new style is emerging that's more like casual speech. That doesn't excuse they're / their / there sorts of mistakes, but many other unconventionalities are well-suited to this growing use of writing. Abbreviations, plainly. And did you know that there are meaningful differences among "thx", "Thanks", and "Thanks." And yes, gotcha crew, I know that neither "unconventionalilties" nor "gotcha" is in the dictionary, so of course I would not put them in a brochure. But for social communication, fine.
Those of you who know French know that its spelling is so devilishly difficult that students from a young age are graded on how well they take dictation. I belong to a French-based nudist site where I have a chance to see similarly casual correspondence, and I note that even well-educated folks tend to use a somewhat more phonetic spelling than is standard, and quite a lot of abbreviation. It's not just a change in English, and it's not a decline-of-civilization thing. It's just that real-time writing is a new thing, and is changing the toolkit.
I agree spelling and grammar are important. My first impression of someone is often dictated by how they wrote something. But I do keep in mind that this website, and many on the web, are not the sole property of folks who have English as their native tongue. Nor do we want it to be. So if someone's grammar is poor I look at their location and often that explains it. Imagine trying to type a sentence in a foreign tongue with the fear that someone that will read it and nit pick you over mistakes. It would make you less likely to respond. We want to keep open discussion going. And as nudist we need to stick together about topics and issues and not worry if someone messes up their grammar. So please keep that in mind when reading here.
I appreciate precision in language and, more importantly, in thought. I like clear communications. But I cut a lot of slack when reading posts on here, because I recognize that many are communicating in a second language, and many others were just not educated in the same way that I was. I see a big difference between an interested father correcting spelling and punctuation in his son's letters and an uninvited dressing down of a poster who has shortcomings in their writing ability. I remember tiring of the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" after page 6 because it really never got beyond being snarky and haughty. Let's discuss ideas and enjoy each other. I pass a sign often advertising BLUEBERRY'S FOR SALE. I live in the sticks, I used to cringe, now I stop for some hellified wild blueberries. Life is better since I lightened up. I love NPR's A Way With Words, very playful approach to language.
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