Who cares about grammar?
If I don’t notice mistakes, no one else will either.
Grammar has nothing to do with my business.
I don’t have time or money to hire an editor.
I know what I’m doing.
Grammar? Who cares about that?
These are all comments I’ve heard from people about grammar. Does grammar matter? Does it affect your business, sales, product, service, or platform?
Absolutely.
Look at the example below. Do you see the glaring mistake?
(Please note that this is not a post about pro-life vs. pro-choice. This is merely the example I’m using. If you are interested in reading my personal opinion on this matter, please click here.)
This photo has been passed around on Facebook. The originator of this photo obviously feels passionate. But how is he or she portrayed based on this one sentence? The use of “your” is incorrect. “Your” is possessive (example: your shoe). “You’re” should have been used, which means “you are.” This person’s conviction becomes discredited when a grammar mistake is present. Not many will listen to or be swayed to agree with his or her views. A simple grammar mistake can … pardon my frankness … make you look like an idiot!
Grammar absolutely affects how people look at you and whether you are effective and successful at what you do. It affects your …
- Business
- Website
- Sales
- Products
- Service
- Platform
- Debate
- Argument
- Case
Do you get the idea? Whenever you speak or write, how you do so matters—a lot! I’ve worked with many businesses who have asked me to review their websites and business material. What did I find? Mistakes, mistakes, and many more mistakes. All of these companies did not think that their sales, whether products or services, were affected by grammar. However, their reputations are on the line with each customer interaction. Every time a customer views a business’ website, flyer, mailer, advertisement, pamphlet, booklet, contract, or brochure, the company can either look competent and professional, or it can look incompetent and ignorant—all based on grammar.
Take the time to learn proper grammar, punctuation, word choice, and style. However, if you know you’re not an expert on these matters, then hire someone who is. There are many things I know nothing about—cars, plumbing, electronics. So I either learn about them or hire an expert who knows to get the job done correctly.
If you want to learn a little more about grammar, check out these previous posts:
- Capitalization Tips
- One Space or Two?
- Spiritual Style
- Positive Proofreading
- Break the Rules!
- The Elusive Ellipsis
- Ellipsis: Dos and Don’ts
- Top 12 Grammar Mistakes
- Grammar Mistakes: Part 2
The next time you put out a post, newsletter, website, blog, advertisement—anything!—check for proper grammar. It can affect your reputation more than you think.
Share with us—what is the funniest grammar mistake
you’ve ever noticed?
I had a discussion on this very thing two days ago! Well done!
Thanks! It kills me when I see mistakes on beautiful brochures that I know business paid lots of $$ to print. Or on websites where thousands of people are looking at a company’s products or services. Most websites are designed by tech people–who know the technical side of websites very well, but not much about grammar. Every company should have a corporate editor to proof all their material. Definitely affects sales!
Brandon is having to review resumes at work right now b/c he’s having to hire someone … and he found a glaring mistake at the top of one of them. I forget what it was now … I’ll have to ask him. But he immediately put that resume to the side! 😉
Maybe I should send you my 11 page school psych resume to edit for me hahaha! Kidding … I love you too much to do that to you!
Yes, especially resumes can make or break you with one little mistake! I know people make mistakes and nobody’s perfect, but it always helps to have someone with expertise look over your stuff–especially if you’re trying to get a job!
You are SO right. Ok, now I need to brush up on my grammar. And as a friend and expert on the subject please correct me when you see a mistake. I never take offense!
Yes! Proper grammar is so important, and poor grammar is one of my biggest pet peeves. I also learned something here; even just a few years ago in high school, I was still learning to put two spaces between sentences. I had no idea that the “rule” had changed until a few months ago, when one of my younger college classmates informed me. I wasn’t sure that I believed them, but I guess now I have no choice! What a tough habit it’s going to be for me to break though!
It is hard to change. But now that I’m used to it, when I see something that has two spaces, it looks so weird to me! You can write like you normally do, and then do a “find and replace all.” When I am editing documents, that’s what I do first and find all the two spaces and replace with one space.