We’ve become increasingly concerned about typically the ignorance of Americans – not necessarily those who have learned English as a second language, nevertheless native English speakers – regardless of ethnic background, income level, schooling, or other determining factors. Tips For spelling and grammar check.
The volume of people who read seems to be regressing in direct proportion to the number of kids growing up using portable DVDs and iPods. Television has become the preferred barnepige for children and the most effective way for adults to anesthetize on their own after a day’s work.
Nowadays, I see egregious (horrible, crazy, astoundingly bad) grammatical mistakes on resumes, including letters, websites, signs, and email messages to me, regardless of management or income level. Some of these tend to be written by people in the marketplace hoping to be invited for an interview, and their paperwork abounds with punctuation and grammatical errors. Were they careless? Or even do they not know? Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Maybe the employing authority doesn’t know the distinction either.
The other day I saw the rear of a company shirt nevertheless: providing quality service because of 10 years. A company shirt? The number of were printed and are used by employees who walk advertising that that particular organization has someone in an upper-level management position who did not catch the error or even didn’t know the difference.
I saw a sign in a shop a few weeks ago: We do not know except bank cards. (It should be “accept.” )
Last week a senior degree manager emailed me. This individual confused “its” and “it’s” in three different locations. (“Its” is possessive. “It’s” is the contraction of “it is.” )
Here’s what truly bugs me: the new guideline that seems to have come into impact in the last year – if within doubt, add an apostrophe. So what’s happened is that people all over America understand the difference between plural and possessive (possessive gets an S, dual does not).
Your resume and cover letter are not just a summary of your background. They are not an introduction to you whenever you hope to be considered for a job interview. First and foremost, they are a sales brochure, and they are selling a product, and the product is you.
If you had been shopping for a new car, what would you think if every one of the Honda, Lexus, and Toyota brochures had apostrophes in the wrong place? As well as misspelled words? Or obvious grammatical errors? Would you learn?
What about a flyer from a local grocery store? Or a promo piece from your state agent?
On some level, it will now make a difference in your opinion of the company or person. Should they aren’t careful enough about the literature or sales substance, what else don’t they will pay attention to?
Don’t rely on Microsoft company Word’s ABC/Grammar checker. It can discern if a phrase is spelled correctly yet used out of context. However, the particular grammar checker won’t enable you to unless you have a fundamental comprehension of grammar. If you defer to the grammar checker’s advice, you’ll probably increase the number of mistakes.
An excellent reference publication to keep on hand is The Components of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer. For example, in “Words Often Confused” it clarifies the differences between pairs of words like “well” and “good.”
May tell yourself it doesn’t matter. May tell yourself that your expertise is more important. Above all, tell yourself that every person speaks poorly these days and the hiring authority won’t realize or care. The ability to talk, written and spoken, will be of paramount importance – certainly, incorporated. And it becomes much more valuable as fewer folks demonstrate it.
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