Month: June 2018

You should proofread your writing rather than rely on the spelling and grammar check of your computer. Grammatical errors or even what most

persons would label as typographical errors, or typos as they are more commonly, known can spoil an otherwise appealing website, article or promotion. In the public space when you present yourself to the world a few mistakes can undermine your credibility. Website content or blogs with errors can make your market or audience uncertain about doing business with you. You have to proofread your writing in order to correct any errors you may have inadvertently made. Do this before releasing your writing to the attention of the public or your audience.

You should not rely on Spell Check because it does not distinguish between homonyms or words that sound alike but have different meanings. If you write pear when you intended to write pair it will not be flagged as an error. In the meantime your sentence will have an entirely different meaning to what you intended or it will have no meaning at all.

Spell Check will alert you to misspelt words but it will not recognise when the word you use is incorrect. Here are some examples.

Mothering is at the root of all out biology

New model phone breath new life into company.

If push to came to shove

Of these three examples only the second was flagged as an error and the spelling and grammar tool did not recognise it as an agreement error but thought it was a fragment.

Can I trust you?

If you allow mistakes to appear in your writing in the final versions of your blog post, article or letter you may give the impression of being inept. Some readers say they think of such writers as fraudulent or dishonest.

I always think that the person whose site has a lot of grammar or spelling mistakes will also be careless about other aspects of the site such as security.

One site advertising a mobile wallet says:

Your app in protected via PIN and password.

This mistake on a site that is providing a product that will have access to your financial information does not inspire confidence in the site or its owners to keep your financial information safe.

Spellcheck would not recognise this mistake because “in” is a word. If the writer had taken the time to proofread the content then such a mistake would have been easily identified.

I am reluctant to buy even a T-shirt from a supplier if there are mistakes or what some would dismiss as typos in the description of the product. It leads me to expect that the product would be inferior. below is an example of a mistake in writing the description of the product.

Women’s printed surplus dress

The writer of this description intended to write “surplice dress”. The spelling and grammar check tool did not recognise the error. You have to be careful in writing your product description because that is your chance to talk to your customer. A mistake here could cause you to lose your customer. A “surplus” dress is one that might seem as not belonging to the higher quality inventory. A “surplice” dress on the other hand describes the style of the dress. In cases like this the human element is superior and a good proofreading eye will give you a corrected written description of your product.

Proofreading screens your writing more thoroughly than the computer’s spelling and grammar tool. You can still use your spell check tool but for confidence and accuracy follow up with a thorough proofreading of your writing.

 

 

 

photo credit: Nemo’s great uncle #3558 truck enterence [sic] only via photopin (license)

photo credit: marcoverch Brille, Tastatur und Kaktus-Kerze vor buntem Hintergrund via photopin (license)

We hardly write letters nowadays. We dash off an email or punch in a text or a message in an app. However the letter writing skill is still a requirement of English courses. Should we still learn how to write a letter? I think so. Often an email is just another method of sending a letter. Even in today’s digital world business letters are still required. If you are searching for a job you are still expected to write a cover letter to accompany your resume even if you will send both by email. We still write letters of application, letters of complaint to a business, letters to a bank or even to the political representative of our community. You may also wish to write a thank- you letter to a firm that has granted you an interview. Sometimes we may need to write a resignation letter.

If you are writing to your bank to complain about a service you should still use the business style of writing. Even if you are sending it electronically your letter should have the look and the tone of a business letter. You therefore need to know how to write a business letter.

Business letters

A business letter will have two addresses. First write your address then the date then write the address of the person to whom you will send the letter. Your greeting would also be more formal. You can use Dear Sir or Dear Madam.   If you know the name of the person receiving the letter then write their name in the greeting as for example, Dear Mr Martin or Dear Mrs Whyte.

When you are writing a letter to a business or one of those letters mentioned above you have to write a formal closing such as Yours sincerely or Yours truly. You should only capitalise the first word in the closing. You should also sign or write your full name, that is, write your first name and last name. You would not be on a first name business with the human resource director of the company where you hope to be hired so keep an appropriate tone.

As long as you have a relationship with a business or an institution you may have to write a formal letter at some time in your life.

Informal letters

Writing a friendly or informal letter is not a totally extinct or obsolete practice. Many people still write thank-you letters to acknowledge a gift or a thoughtful action. These letters are usually highly appreciated.

You would send a friendly letter to someone you know personally, usually a friend or relative or colleague. The style of this letter is less formal than that of a business letter. You will write your address and then the date. The greeting can be casual. It can be Hello Jane or Hi Mark. You can also write Dear Mark depending on how close a relationship you have. Notice however that we just write the first name of the person who will get the letter.

The ending or closing of the letter can also be informal such as Love or Sincerely. You would use just your first name to sign the letter as shown below.

Love,

Jan

While sending emails and text messages are now other choices for you to communicate, writing a letter still has its place in both personal and business relationships. It is worth knowing how to write letters.

 

photo credit: Today is a good day In the days before email via photopin (license)