Importance of good grammar
Discussion
I fully expect that in a post about good grammar and spelling I'm going to make some sort of mistake which will be thrown back at me, but here goes...
How important, to you, is good grammar and spelling in written communication at work? Is it something you would ask your staff to pay attention to? How would you manage it, if at all, if a subordinate were making mistakes? Would it matter on their level of seniority?
I have a colleague under my direct management who makes mistakes in almost all the emails they send. Their emails are generally a single run-on sentence such as below. This was an email sent this morning to a customer who queried their direct debit collection which I've only edited to remove sums/references. Occasional typos wouldn't bother me, but this is fairly standard from this member of staff.
How important, to you, is good grammar and spelling in written communication at work? Is it something you would ask your staff to pay attention to? How would you manage it, if at all, if a subordinate were making mistakes? Would it matter on their level of seniority?
I have a colleague under my direct management who makes mistakes in almost all the emails they send. Their emails are generally a single run-on sentence such as below. This was an email sent this morning to a customer who queried their direct debit collection which I've only edited to remove sums/references. Occasional typos wouldn't bother me, but this is fairly standard from this member of staff.
Email said:
Hi [customer],
I hope your well,
This was due to your renewal deposit (invoice #) for £, I attach a copy here encase you do not have it, your old deposit (invoice #) was credit back, paying £x of the balance of invoice #, leaving £x left outstanding which was collected with your invoice # for £x totalling to £x.
I hope this makes sense, if not I can explain it to you.
Is this something you'd bother to speak to them about? Do you think it's important enough to challenge? Or am I just being a grumpy old fart about this?I hope your well,
This was due to your renewal deposit (invoice #) for £, I attach a copy here encase you do not have it, your old deposit (invoice #) was credit back, paying £x of the balance of invoice #, leaving £x left outstanding which was collected with your invoice # for £x totalling to £x.
I hope this makes sense, if not I can explain it to you.
Educated to degree standard no doubt?
My written grammer isn't perfect; I put commas where semi colons should be and vice versa and sometimes I'm not sure whether I need a new sentence, line or paragraph, however as imperfect as my written grammar can be, it is only nit picky things, I always make sure my spelling is correct though.
That email above is awful, however I think emails have become like text messages, no matter the scenario or who the email is intended for; you should see some of the emails which I receive from customers.
My written grammer isn't perfect; I put commas where semi colons should be and vice versa and sometimes I'm not sure whether I need a new sentence, line or paragraph, however as imperfect as my written grammar can be, it is only nit picky things, I always make sure my spelling is correct though.
That email above is awful, however I think emails have become like text messages, no matter the scenario or who the email is intended for; you should see some of the emails which I receive from customers.
romeogolf said:
Is this something you'd bother to speak to them about? Do you think it's important enough to challenge? Or am I just being a grumpy old fart about this?
There are too many things wrong with that email. It is hard to know where to start!The problem with 'just hoping the spellcheck will sort it' is that, invariably, it doesn't - yet it'll give a false sense of security.
I wouldn't have the author of that email in any position where written communication with customers formed any part of their role until they could demonstrate a proper understanding of what is expected of them.
It matters. If it's going to customers then it matters a lot.
It's hard to know what to do if someone struggles with it. I'd want to be supportive, but English as bad as in you example is so far below acceptable that it's not likely you'll get there.
I've staff who don't have English as a first language who'd write better emails than that.
It's hard to know what to do if someone struggles with it. I'd want to be supportive, but English as bad as in you example is so far below acceptable that it's not likely you'll get there.
I've staff who don't have English as a first language who'd write better emails than that.
I would think nothing of a tradesman having poor grammar because writing is not an important part of his job, but someone office based whose job is to communicate with customers should know better.
HTP99 said:
I meant your colleague; I've seen some serious bad grammer from degree educated people.
Should that be "serious bad grammar" or "seriously bad grammar" or doesn't it matter? Not nitpicking, I just want to know. 
timetex said:
There are too many things wrong with that email. It is hard to know where to start!
The problem with 'just hoping the spellcheck will sort it' is that, invariably, it doesn't - yet it'll give a false sense of security.
I wouldn't have the author of that email in any position where written communication with customers formed any part of their role until they could demonstrate a proper understanding of what is expected of them.
Because I'm bored I pasted the email content into Word - it passed both spelling and grammar checks The problem with 'just hoping the spellcheck will sort it' is that, invariably, it doesn't - yet it'll give a false sense of security.
I wouldn't have the author of that email in any position where written communication with customers formed any part of their role until they could demonstrate a proper understanding of what is expected of them.
CX53 said:
Don't single this person out, just send a memo round to everyone asking them to spell check their emails to customers. It's not that big a deal I suppose but it could come across unprofessional.
The problem with that is that there doesn't appear to be a single typo in the email that a spellchecker would pick up.Yes, you've got "your" when it should be "you're", and "encase" instead of "in case", but both the incorrect choices are still correctly spelled English words. That doesn't stop the email from being utterly incomprehensible though!
OP - could you arrange some sort of training? Just dress it up as something a bit more positive than "Grammer training for numpties wot doesn't do it right".
It's the little things like this that people notice. They then make conscious and subconscious decisions using that information. For example, if that person making the mistakes needs to have a forceful conversation with that client, is there going to be the same level of respect shown to their point of view, if their grammar is poor?
janesmith1950 said:
It's the little things like this that people notice. They then make conscious and subconscious decisions using that information. For example, if that person making the mistakes needs to have a forceful conversation with that client, is there going to be the same level of respect shown to their point of view, if their grammar is poor?
I'm glad you've said that. I had a conversation with this employee a few months back when they claimed that a particular person was being rude to them via email and that they were treated differently to me. Their reasoning was that it was because I was more senior, and so commanded more respect. I reasoned that people treat others, generally, how they are treated to start with - And if a polite and well-written email is sent, the response is generally alike.Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff