Grammar

What’s Your Grammar and Spelling Tolerance?

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Last Updated on June 13, 2017

You hear about a blog you haven’t visited before and you have reason to believe there might be content that’s relevant enough to make you want to check it out.

But when you arrive, you see spelling and grammar errors all over the place.

What’s the limit?

How much are you willing to tolerate before you just give up and close the window?

What’s more important to you: spelling or grammar? Are either even an issue for you?

Even if it’s someone you know personally, is there any point at all at which you just stop reading?

Last question: do you worry more about grammar and spelling on someone else’s blog, or on your own?

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.

12 Comments

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  • @Mrs. L I want to know that person! Let me know if you think of who the Irish American English teacher is! (I believe ending a sentence with the word ‘is’ would not be considered cricket either…)

  • I would say my limit is approximately three seconds. Then I am done. There is no content so compelling that I should give up my integrity to read it if there is not appropriate punctuation and/or spelling.

    I’m the person who tells people, “Don’t e-mail me if you persist in using ‘U’ for ‘you’ and ‘R’ for ‘are’.” There is no excuse for that. The butchering of the apostrophe – let’s not even get me STARTED on that! (That makes me crazy – I see that everywhere!)

    The only thing I can not fathom is the current use of quotation marks in conjunction with the end of a sentence. It a sentence ends with a phrase that is quoted, why are the end quotes outside of the period? The full sentence in quotes I understand…

    Um… I guess that answers the main question, even though I had a question of my own! The answer is yes, proper writing skills are essential to good reading.

  • I would say my limit is approximately three seconds. Then I am done. There is no content so compelling that I should give up my integrity to read it if there is appropriate punctuation and/or spelling.

    I’m the person who tells people, “Don’t e-mail me if you persist in using “U” for “you” and “R” for “are”. There is no excuse for that. The butchering of the apostrophe – let’s not even get me STARTED on that!

    The only thing I can not fathom is the current use of quotation marks in conjunction with the end of a sentence. It a sentence ends with a phrase that is quoted, why are the end quotes outside of the period? The full sentence in quotes I understand…

    Um… I guess that answers the main question, even though I had a question of my own! The answer is yes, proper writing skills are essential to good reading.

  • @patricksplace I correct kids. I rarely correct grown-ups unless I know for sure that they just goofed (i.e., I tease them incessantly for a couple of hours) or when I can’t make sense of what they typed. People I find hopeless, I just don’t read unless I’m <i>that</i> bored. Yeah, I think you’re a bit of a harder case than me, though. Grammar–I don’t even remember learning it until 7th grade! Thank goodness I read a lot as a child!! 😀

  • Who was the Irish American English teacher on AOL Journals who was a brilliant grammarian? I could always count on him to correct my often convoluted syntax and set me on the path to write-tiousness. Unless he just stopped by to leave a very funny comment. Clearly he was willing to give me many second chances. I, on the other hand, especially with terrible spelling [although I’m not immune], will abandon anyone who continues to have an ongoing, unresolved spellcheck problem. Same for eighth grade grammar flubs. And apostrophes used haphazardly. With one exception — REMO — the Phoenix area cop — whose comedy continues to rise way beyond any of his lapses. I remember one blogger, a lovely young chestnut-haired woman and winner of AOL best writing awards [surprisingly], who was a brilliant writer/philosopher, but sometimes wrote jarring sentences that revealed the gaping holes in her grammar. I finally couldn’t take it anymore when she began to talk about authoring a book. I complimented her brilliant think pieces, but suggested that she get a good editor first. She didn’t seem to think there was a problem. That was five years ago. I haven’t seen a book since, have you? Of course, you haven’t read mine either.

  • @StephRWong Good point, Steph. I wonder though how many additional people those writers are actually going to be able to attract if they aren’t willing to write like they’re building a professional blog. Maybe some don’t put a lot of effort because they don’t want a big audience?

  • @annedreshfield I tend to feel the same way you do with regard to the apparent lack of effort. When I write, I feel like I’d be disrespecting my audience to make no effort to get grammar and spelling right.

  • In general, I have a low tolerance for spelling and grammar mistakes in blogs. I’m of the belief that blogs are one of the many ways we present ourselves to the world, and we should always present ourselves in the best light possible. If a blogger wants me to stick on their page, read their content and engage with it, I don’t want to be hit in the face with errors. That tells me that they didn’t put a lot of time or effort into checking their work after it was written, and if that’s the case, why should I invest myself in it? At best I usually give a blogger one or two tries at winning me over, but if the errors continue, you can bet that I’m going to skim the content at best.

  • I think it depends on what kind of blog it is and who the target audience is. I mean if it’s a personal blog and the audience is just your friends then I don’t think spelling and grammar is as much a deal as it would be for a professional blog or blog that is aimed to inform people on important topics you want to be heard.

  • 1. I need punctuation and spelling accuracy. I won’t read if I can’t make sense of what’s being said. Capitalization matters too. If any of this is completely messed up–and written by someone who clearly knows English–I’m gone.

    2. I notice grammatical mistakes, but unless it’s sentence after sentence, they don’t make me nuts (unless it’s a Big Name Site where people should know better, e.g., CNN). Spelling is an entirely different matter, primarily because of the ubiquity of spellcheck programs. Again, I can deal with one or two per page, but if it’s every other sentence, I’m out.

    3. Even if I know the person, I will stop reading. Sometimes talking to people is better than reading. There are people in my Facebook friends list whose status updates are routinely ignored because they’re always just WRONG. I do, however, give kids a little more leeway on this–and I correct them if it’s particularly egregious. 😉

    4. I think it’s obvious by now that I’m more of a spelling nut than a grammar nut. When the spirit moves me, I go too fast on my own blog sometimes (often!) and don’t always go back and reread what I wrote. On the other hand, it’s the way I write and it’s perhaps one typo per 150 words or so, so I’m not gonna (LOL) stress. I don’t think I’m any more biased towards or against others’ writing, either.

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