Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
No, Betty. I actually do believe that people all too often pay more attention to the grammar and spelling than to the content. Look how many here have said that when they see a mistake will either get turned off to what is being said, or become 'copy editor' and try to fix it, at that point completely ignoring the content because of the mistakes.[...]
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I agree that sometimes people do seem to place an undue importance on the subtleties of grammar, things that vary according to taste, or may simply be minor typos where the actual intention is obvious. People keep coming up with the "Let's eat Grandpa" example, but it's much rarer to find examples of where it's vs its, or who's vs whose are particularly ambiguous - the intention is generally pretty clear from the context (and so too, usually, is the matter of eating Grandpa).
BUT, context matters. I don't expect perfect grammar from someone whose job is not specialised in communication. I generally do want at least passable grammar from those that I expect to write reports or letters etc., and I do need at least comprehensible communication between all staff etc. I do, however, expect very good grammar from those who specialise in communication - and that includes writers.
A few mistakes will happen. I know that I regularly get my "its" and "it's" wrong (among other things), not because I don't know any better, just because my fingers get it wrong while I'm typing and I haven't stopped to think about it. I try to get back to fix them up ... but some will inevitably get through.
I suspect that one of the reasons why people sometimes appear to pick on grammar in particular, when reading a book that they are not enjoying, is that it is something tangibly wrong that they can identify: "Look, the sod can't even get his pronouns right! That obviously explains why this book is such drivel." Whereas, in fact, the problems are often more subtle than the obvious mistakes in grammar; the mistakes are a symptom rather than a full diagnosis.
I think that ScaleyFreak puts it very well: "The ability to use the rules of grammar to accentuate and emphasize, as well as ensure that the right message goes through, makes a good writer a better writer."
Actual mistakes in grammar are not, of themselves, necessarily a problem. However too many mistakes suggest a lack of knowledge which, in a writer, suggests they don't know how to use their tools - the words on the page. A few mistakes will, hopefully, go unnoticed when the writer gets the rest of it right, but all the mistakes will become obvious when they add up to the writer getting the sum-total wrong.