Quote:
Originally Posted by bjones6416
And I think that, you, Stitchawl, are just playing the devil's advocate here to get a good discussion going. And it worked.  |
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.
Case in point, I had a friend who owned a large Recreational Vehicle company. I was helping him out for a few months during 'High Season,' and due to injury of his shop foreman, we needed a new good, well trained mechanic. We took dozens of resumes, but none of them contained the qualifications needed for that job.
Then one fellow presented a CV that was nothing less than fantastic! I checked all the references and he received glowing reports from every past employer and training school. The fellow was a married, down-to-earth church goer, with no bad habits, AND he was a Top Mechanic! Unfortunately, he couldn't spell and his grammar was terrible. My friend got so hung up in correcting the resume for spelling and grammar errors, that he paid no attention at all to the fact that for this particular job, the fellow was perfectly suitable. Granted, had he been applying for a job as a copywriter there would be no question that he should NOT get the job. But for someone who crawls under an RV and adjusts the breaks, ending his written sentences with a preposition should NOT have made a difference.
Unfortunately, the owner of the shop was one of the people who get caught up in the form and not in the content. He lost out on getting a model employee who could do the needed work simply because he paid more attention to spelling and grammar rather than content.
So, no... I wasn't playing Devil's Advocate. I believe that there
is a need to teach students the proper basics, but then too, there is a need to look beyond them as well.
Stitchawl