No, I’m not going to crack a dodgy joke about your mother’s mother…
I must admit, I am a little prickly on this one – the odd typo is one thing, but when an “expert” in their field can’t get their own technical terms right then surely we have to question both the education system and their own ability and standards. When their field of expertise is supposed to be administration, I really get worried – a surgeon with shaky hands perhaps shouldn’t be a surgeon, so should a VA with poor “English” (or any other language they choose to work in) be thinking about a career change? I was given a “stationary” price list today from a local printer – good thing too, I don’t want the thing running around the office!
Whenever you publish something with words in, whether on the web, in an email or in print you WILL be judged by the quality of the work. If it’s badly written with spelling mistakes and poor grammar then your business will appear to be unprofessional and shoddy. On the other hand, a piece that has clearly been prepared with care will portray you in a favourable manner and may well win you extra sales, especially if it gets read by someone like me!
I’m not perfect by any means and I certainly spot other people’s mistakes better than my own, but I know the difference between your and you’re, stationery and stationary, affect and effect. I could go on…
Is it because I’m getting old and crusty? When I was at school spelling, punctuation and grammar mattered in all subjects – if my Chemistry homework was factually correct but littered with spelling mistakes then it came back covered in red ink, usually accompanied with a “See me” comment. However, my two stepsons, who I don’t think are classed as being anything other than pretty average are, in my opinion, rubbish at spelling and nobody seems to think it’s an issue! So perhaps I am being too hard – after all, if nobody tells you how to use an apostrophe then I suppose it’s all downhill from there really.