OK I openly talk about my dyslexia, in fact the very first post I mentioned I had dyslexia I had to google the spelling! It’s also no secret that my spelling is horrendous and if spell check misses it, that only means the word is spelt correctly but it doesn’t make sense in the sentence. I have to get my wife (who refers to me as shiny, like a new penny!) and my sister to proof read everything.
A discussion about the importance of grammar is always taking place between them, My sister says ‘In order to be professional your grammar needs to be spot on‘ , My wife on the other hand ‘As long as people can read it and understand it, where’s the harm?’
Here’s my take on it all;
- Spelling
As I said I spell check everything, I have too. Spelling is one thing that will hurt you if your appealing to readers that have their own websites. They are coming to you for knowledge, because your the own knows whats going down, They’re not coming to you to make them self feel better because your spelling is atrocious. That said don’t worry about regional differences between American and English. I live in the UK so I write in English but I’m fully aware my spell check will probably take American spellings but this is nothing to worry about.
- Punctuation
I get unstuck with this all the live long day, and still don’t understand all the different there’s etc. To be honest as long as it’s not glaring obvious you’ll be fine. Most people scan when they read any sort of content on websites, so writing dont instead of don’t will not hurt you too much.
- Paragraphs
As far as I understand it (And please feel free to shoot me down as I have zero qualifications especially in literacy) a new paragraph starts when its the start of a new subject or a set of new sentences etc. I split my content down into what I think are readable chunks and hopefully they fit the post well.
- Capitals
I do this all the time, and still don’t know when really not to do it. I always want to be a capital letter after a comer, but would it matter if I did? No not one bit, it’ll still read the same, so don’t worry.
- Past and Present
I always write in the present tense, but it doesn’t matter if you write in past tense either, as long as you don’t keep mixing it up when it’s not needed. It won’t be massively obvious but it could potentially make your post disjointed.
I write exactly how I talk, which so far has been great for me, and because of my writing style I think I can get away with the odd grammatical vomit!
What does everyone think?
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Hi James!
The worst thing about spell checkers (aside from their uncanny ability to only speak American) is that they try to correct what you wrote, instead of what you meant.
Occasionally, I have some trouble reading your posts with all of the typo’s, misplaced words, etc. But that is only because I’m such an anal-retentive bastard, so you shouldn’t take that as an attack (it really isn’t). Instead, take the fact that I keep coming back to read more as a big fat compliment.
One last thing, you should listen to your sister. Grammer is incredibly important, especially in this fast-paced-short-cut society we seem to be living in. Besides, your wife loves you too much to be critical.
Take care, mate
Till next time…
Hi Steve, Thanks again for the support!
I don’t think people should be rude about correcting other people’s grammar but I do think proper grammar is important.
I’ll be the first to admit I do not have perfect grammar.
That’s why I helped create gooseGrade.com. gooseGrade is a service that lets your readers copy edit your blog or website. I created it because I got so tired of getting “Hey JB you messed up your grammar on page x”. I think there is room for style and proper grammar.
Cheers,
JB