Is Focusing On Good Grammar Detrimental To Your Blog’s Health?
by Eric and Sean on March 4, 2009
in communication
NOTE: This is s a guest post from Marc, a freelance writer at Welsch Scribe.
“Since the creation of the Internet, the Earth’s rotation has been powered, primarily, by the collective spinning of English teachers in their graves.”
- Author Unknown.
Today, Wednesday March 4th, is National Grammar Day. Apart from raising awareness of the fact, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the topic in general, with particular regard given to blogging.
Readers of the Blueprint are already aware of the 5 Surefire Methods For Effective Online Communication but as the comments show, the topic of grammar is HUGE and highly debated in the Blogopolis. It’s a fire that is sure to burn for a long time yet to come.
On January 13th I said:
“I believe that it’s our responsibility as writers to make use of correct grammar
I still hold myself to that value and still consider myself a stickler for correct grammar. Heck, I’ve even had work correcting someone else’s poor writing, but am I wrong?
What Is Bad Grammar?
Two of the earliest “rules” I can recall from English class were “never to start a sentence with a conjunction” and to “beware of sentence fragments.” But I break those rules on occasion. And I cringe every time.
Another one was “never to end a sentence with a preposition.” I think Winston Churchill said it best: This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put
I have to admit I never really got that rule but it’s something to think about. 
Bad Grammar = Great Blogs?
Clearly I have no problem breaking some of the rules, particularly when it comes to blogging. In this writing medium patience is not a virtue, brevity is.
Readers tend to skim the content, slowed only by the need to scroll the page. I wonder at times if they see the webpage as Neo sees the Matrix! But I digress. (There goes another English teacher)
Many consider blogging to be an extension of conversation and as we all know, no one pays much attention to grammar during a conversation.
What’s Good For The Goose…
Still, this is the written word and one of the best ways to improve our writing is to read. How can we expect to improve ourselves or help others improve if the grammar we use is not up to scratch?
I’m talking about the things that can cause harm, the things that really ruffle my feathers. Things such as:
Incorrect use of the apostrophe, particularly its and it’s.
Incorrect use of their and there, your and you’re.
Using the word of when it should be have – “I should of known that!”
Oh, and here’s one that you Americans are fond of but really winds me up no end. Lose vs. loose. “A person wants to lose weight so their clothes feel more loose.” You didn’t loose the game on Monday night!
Over To You
Bad grammar can detract from your intended message, cause you to lose subscribers and even sales, but where should the line be drawn?
At what point does bad grammar overwhelm the quality of the content? Or does grammar contribute so much to the content’s quality that the two are inseparable? Does bad grammar make you sic? Comment and let us know.
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Grammar schmammer! If I understand what the writer’s trying to say without any effort (e.g., “its” v. “it’s”), I don’t mind at all. But, if it stops me in my tracks mid-sentence b/c the error is so jarring (e.g. “sic” and actually makes me think of something else), then it gets in the way of the message. Shakespeare never stuck to perfect grammar. If “bad grammar” was good enough for him, why not us? : )
Grammar is important, but it’s not ALL important. I generally have a sense of the right usage of words and punctuation, but it’s been so long since I had an English class that I couldn’t tell you why something is right or not, only that it is. It’s been almost 40 years since I graduated from high school and over 20 years since my last college English class — where the professor actually suggested that I major in English (couldn’t take the pay cut). I was able to internalize most of the rules of grammar, so I don’t make too many mistakes.
Like everything else in a blog, it all comes down to your message and your audience. My wife has a much larger blog audience than I even though she’s been blogging regularly for a much shorter time. Sometimes, her grammar makes me cringe. However, it certainly doesn’t seem to make a difference to her readers.
Mike Goad’s last blog post..Seeds
@ Mike – I’m in a similar boat. I never really paid much attention to the rules, in fact apart from one or two I couldn’t tell you what those rules are. All I know is what makes for correct grammar.
@ Shanel – That sic was deliberate
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Good Grammar is a Garnish to Great Blogging
Great to see you writing here, Marc!(I would have guessed that you’d enjoy this post, Mike – I enjoyed your comment and Shanel’s.)
I’m going to have to try and stay calm and try not to talk too much; this is a subject close to my heart. I’m a life coach, a writer, a songwriter, an EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign or Second Language) teacher, a Greek teacher and a professional translator – six completely different but connected skill sets. I also understood my babies’ and toddlers’ needs, before they even had speech. The overlap for me is understanding the importance of connecting with another’s heart, of resonating with another person’s unique voice. Because of my work background, most of my friends are from all over the world and they don’t all have English as their first language, but we connect at the soul.
“no one pays much attention to grammar during a conversation”
Have to disagree with you here, Marc, because although we don’t do it ACTIVELY, we still do it. Just like there’s a powerful relationship between blog design and content, in spoken communication, our actual words are only a small percentage of our communication, after body language and intonation, which we respond to as keenly as animals. Our spoken language is simply a different code, with a different set of rules, a bit like Twittering has its own code, structure and rules. You can tell right away if someone’s using weird semantics or word order because we’ve filed away in our minds the patterns that belong to each age-group or dialect, that are perfectly APPROPRIATE to both.
That’s why so many people get angry in blogs and emails; there aren’t all those non-verbal signals there to make communcation clear. that’s why i think we should try that wee bit harder when we’re writing.
Not everyone’s background or education affords them the gift of a range of registers or flexibility of vocabulary when they’re speaking or writing, but I suspect there are some folk who are just too rushed to quickly check a post before they press PUBLISH. Which is a shame, because blogging, unlike any other form of publishing, gives us the freedom to be as creative as Shakespeare was – he actually invented new words and grammar! I mean, which blogger invented VLOG – what a wonderful word!!
I get bugged more by snotty upperclass elitists on UK TV spouting pretentious crap and making grammar mistakes than I do with a teenager whose communication is powerful, passionate, articulate and intelligent yet is riddled with the evidence of social deprivation.
I also have amazing respect for people who write brilliantly and communicate in a language that isn’t their native tongue.
As a blog reader, I have a strong sense of when I’m being appreciated and respected. I suggested to Eric and Sean that they get the Ajax plugin for Blogopolis Blueprint to allow us commenters to briefly edit our posts if we want to. They listened. It showed they respect and value us.
But if a post itself (and I’m not talking about Sean and Eric here)is riddled with spelling mistakes and sloppy grammar, then it can leave me feeling like the blogger doesn’t respect me or think I’m worth the extra few minutes it would take to do a spell check or a tidy up.
Last thing: Marc and I are Celts. We’re not English. He’s Welsh, I’m Scottish. In Wales, there are two official languages, Welsh and English. In Scotland, we have three: Scots, Gaelic and English. But we can also tell the difference between UK English and US English. I wish I had a hundred dollars for every time an American editor has pointed out a ’spelling mistake’ or a ‘grammar mistake’ in one of my articles that was in fact just me using Scots English. My version of Microsoft Word has 18 kinds of English in its language selection box.
There’s no RIGHT English, but we can all aim for the best communication and clarity of expression we can manage, even if we want to write short, snappy, scannable posts (another skill entirely…one I haven’t learned to manage…sorry.)
It’s about respecting our readers and building trust. If a blogger can’t be trusted to do a quick check of their spelling and grammar for OBVIOUS typos, can I trust them to get the html and css code right in a theme they’re doing for me, or the facts right in an ebook I’m thinking of buying from them?
Nice one, Marc. Got me thinking!
Janice,
You should have saved all that for a follow up guest post! Man, I think you out-worded Mark. It’s true, we do use a kind of verbal and physical grammar as well, though I’ve never thought of it quite that way. It does comedown to respect. I make sure everything I put out on Writer Dad is crisp because I do care about my audience, myself, and the image my children will have of me when they read my words in a few years. Not to mention I’m commanding money for my words, so they better be in tip top shape.
However, if I were a 17 year old blogging about the neighborhood bully, I’m sure I could easily slip away with all kinds of crazy conventions. Blogging truly is to each his own.
Marc,
Thanks again, my man. Great job. Happy Grammar Day!
Writer Dad’s last blog post..Bahma!
Janice, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Spell checkers abound these days, from Microsoft Word to WordPress to browser plugins there is no excuse for a post riddled with spelling errors.
Grammar is a bit more fiddly but like Sean I too am a writer so I feel I must lead by example. There’s no denying that some bloggers get away with all sorts of terrible spelling and grammar but as you say, how much of that is down to a lack of patience.
Comments get far more leeway from me but if someone can’t take the time to check their posts then why should I take the time to read them?
Sean, thanks mate. This “exchange” of posts has been fun
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Good Grammar is a Garnish to Great Blogging
“You should have saved all that for a follow up guest post! Man, I think you out-worded Mark.” ~Sean
Really sorry, guys. Just a big Marc fan and got carried away by a great topic.
Janice: No apologies necessary. I totally heart great dialogue. That’s what the downstairs is for!
It’s also a subtle hint to submit a guest post to Eric and Sean
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Good Grammar is a Garnish to Great Blogging
I take grammar extremely seriously. I may be a blogger, but I never did like that word. I consider myself a writer even if my main medium is a computer screen.
The classic book “On Writing Well” says it’s fine to start a sentence with a conjunction. I think it may have also said it’s OK to end a sentence with a preposition too.
As far as fragments, I love them. The point is not to overuse them.
So, I think those three situations you speak of are actually completely proper today.
But the latter grammar issues you speak of at the end of your post, those are a big no no.
By the way, I think it’s pretty funny that when one comments on the subject of grammar they probably proof their comment more than usual
@Marc
Click to play this video.
Eric: Good points.
How can a post come across as intelligent if it’s full of spelling/grammar mistakes though?
I get what you’re saying but what can be considered nit picking for one person is totally unacceptable for another.
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Good Grammar is a Garnish to Great Blogging
I don’t think about grammar, or misspelled words.
Poelpe wlil tinhk yuo rae a garet bolgegr as lnog as yuo mkae a srtnog conentcion.
Matthew Dryden’s last blog post..We Looked Pretty Scattered
I loved your post, Marc.
I am a nit-picky person who cringes when something doesn’t “flow” correctly, or when I see a blatant misspelling. My biggest pet peeve though, is when I proof my own post over and over before hitting “publish” only to see about five glaring errors when I look at it in the finished live mode. I have to rush to get all of them corrected before anyone else reads my blog.
Living in a rural area, though, has taught me some patience. Daily I hear sentences such as, “Yeah, we done that this weekend,” or “We coulda did that, but we didn’t,” or “They’s coming over tonight.”
Once an old boss said to me, “I might could let you do that.” I stared at him, waiting for further light and knowledge. Did he mean I might be able to do that? Or did he mean I could do that? I finally had to break down and ask, “What does ‘might could’ mean?” Apparently in Utah it means “maybe.”
My favorite though, was a couple of weeks ago when my son’s English(!) teacher sent home the following note: “Their has been kids who have not turned in their assignment.”
Janice: I almost just submitted my comment as “Yeah, what Janice said.” Good comments. I think Sean was just kidding about you out-wording Mark. I submitted a long comment once and he still lets me play here.
Matthew: Very effective point!
Randi’s last blog post..I Get By With a Little Help…Four Lessons From My Friends
@Marc @Matthew Dryden @Janice
Click to play this video.
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Eric: That reminds me, if you would like a custom header or link for your very interesting website, I would like to help you out. Maybe for a link?
@Sean: Let’s not hijack this excellent post.
Oh, and can you Stumble this for me…?
Eric: Stumbled, Dugg, Redditted, Mixed-up, Delicioused, and bookmarked. I also subscribed with RSS and email, unsubscribed, and re-subscribed again.
John Chow has an infinite number of subscribers. He’s even said here on the blueprint that his grammar is awful.
So, though I strive to be excellent at grammar, it’s not a necessity to gain a tremendous readership.
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