There are many types of written communication including letters, emails, flyers, blogs, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. A lot of the time, written communication is the main form of communication between you and your friends, family and business associates/clients. As such, shouldn’t you take the time to make sure that what you have written says what you want it to say and presents the correct image?
As a parent, I see a lot of letters and newsletters sent to me in respect of events which my son is invited to be a part of. It never ceases to amaze me the number of basic grammatical errors which are found in these letters and newsletters, especially those written by students who are arranging events for the children who attend SNAPPY to take part in. I received one such letter from the organisers of an event which is being held in a couple of weeks inviting my son to take part and the most glaring error was the use of “you’re” instead of “your” when referring to my child.
The most common errors which I find are as follows:
Your – belongs to you and you’re – you are
Hear and here
their, there, they’re
its and it’s
I know that a lot of the time, people are writing how they speak or text and they don’t think about whether or not their spelling or grammar is correct. I can forgive text speak on Twitter as you only have 140 characters to say what you want to say and I am guilty of using it myself in those instances when I have a lot to say and don’t want to split it over two posts. However, sometimes I think that the young people writing on Facebook use the alternative spelling or text speak purely to drive people like me round the twist but they do need to be careful that it doesn’t then spill over into their academic and future work lives.
Does incorrect grammar irritate you or have you just learnt (or should that be learned?) to accept it? Have I made any glaring errors in this blog? I’m sure I have (it doesn’t flow as well as I’d like) so do let me know.
