Editing, anyone?
September 4, 2008There are sites all over the internet poking fun at appalling grammar and spelling mistakes. Of course, people are going to mess up grammatically, I don’t think anyone would argue that the English language is one of the most annoying and difficult to learn to speak, read and write. Plus, the rules change constantly (since I graduated from high school in 2002, the rule on comma usage listing in paragraphs – like in the previous sentence – have changed at least 3 times). So, yes, there are going to be mistakes, even with the wonders technology has given us, like spell check, grammar check and so on.
But here’s the thing. When you don’t edit your documents, no matter if they are an advertisement, essay, thesis, or STAMP, you end up in a conundrum like The Fish and Wildlife Service has found themselves, which is described in the following CNN article:
Duck stamp number sends callers to sex line.
Lesson of the day? ALWAYS EDIT YOUR DOCUMENTS. Even if you hate it, and even if you only do it once, it protects against absolutely idiotic mistakes. There is nothing more embarrassing than writing a stunning paper and discovering – after it’s been turned in – that you spelled “their” as “there” or “your” as “you’re”. There are many other examples I could use, but really, it all comes down to being aware of what you are writing. You’d be amazed at how much a simple spelling error can cost you – just ask any lawyer.
Oh, and none of this “texting lingo” crap. “To” and “too” are not “2″!!!
Learn proper English!
i applaud your posting. we need more of it. but i take issue with the suggestion the rules are changing. they don’t. strunk & white is still relevant. it is acceptance of rules violations that change. for example your phrase “like in the previous sentence” should be “as in the previous sentence,” but i’m probably the only person who would notice it these days. sorry for being so esoteric and schoolmarmish, but as http://www.straightrecord.com points out frequently, you must follow correct grammar if you expect to communicate. also, lawyers may realize incorrect spelling can ruin a legal document, but they are, as a profession, among the worst writers. thanks for your space.
Yes, you should be always correct grammatically. You probably are the only one who realized that “like” should be “as”. However, I am definitely not the only person to realize that you needed to capitalize at the beginning of every sentence. It may be prudent to realize that before correcting people.
The rules do change. Look and see how many revisions there have been of MLA.