Proper English: Why Does it Matter?

Good spelling and grammar are just two of many factors that contribute to good writing. Of course, their presence often goes unnoticed and seemingly unrewarded, except perhaps by some English teachers and editors.

On the other hand, many readers definitely notice incorrect spelling and poor grammar. For them, such written errors may indicate an author’s laziness, fuzzy thinking, indifference to social norms, or even haste to publish without proper editing. These readers may choose to leave your website, blog, newspaper, or magazine due to irritation or confusion before you have made your point to them, and that means lower customer retention, advertising fees, or simply audience size.

Certainly, much written communications these days tends to be informal. Sentence fragments, cute word spellings, and slang all can be effective within the appropriate context. But why spell a word incorrectly when it gives you no advantage to do so? The only answer — other than laziness, fuzzy thinking, indifference, or haste — is simple ignorance of the proper forms of English.

The English language, in particular, is full of strange rules and inconsistencies, and it is notoriously difficult for native speakers of certain other languages to learn. So this author will occasionally write about various simple common mistakes of English grammar and spelling, just in case you want to help clean up your writing. Please suggest appropriate topics for future posts.