3 Reasons why I Think Spelling is Important

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3 Reasons why I Think Spelling is Important

Written by: Jill Porter | Posted on 05 February 2010. Tags: business management, staff management

I recently read an article by someone I haven’t met, but have learned to respect, by what they’ve written before. This article had two spelling errors in it; well one spelling and one, the incorrect word used eg to, two, too.

This was an author I knew well so I excused it but they went down in my estimation of them. I wondered if they were just lazy or
what?

Now I’m a good speller and proof reader – I had to be.

My Dad was a compositor (one that sets written material into type; a typesetter). There was no spellcheck; he did it manually and therefore he was very good at it. His job depended on it. He insisted on checking all my homework and look out if it contained spelling errors, or the incorrect “to”. I learned, very quickly, to be a good speller and to know which “too” to use where!

I think that spelling, in business documents especially, is very important for three main reasons:-

It limits the chances of you being misunderstood and allows you to get the correct message across.
It improves your credibility
It shows that you really care about your communication to us your readers.

Now you may accuse me of being picky or even old fashioned, so let’s debate it! Leave a comment!

PS I make no assurances about my punctuation!!

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This post was written by:

Jill Porter - who has written 4 posts on Business Blogs.

Jill Porter is a certified Financial RecoverySM Counsellor, practicing in Auckland. Jill works as a Money Coach, working with individuals and small business owners to help them improve their money management skills. Working with Jill helps people: find out where the money really goes, clear the “money fog” and be able to make conscious spending and saving decisions. Jill consults either in person in her Freeman’s Bay office or by phone throughout NZ and Australia.

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4 Responses to “3 Reasons why I Think Spelling is Important”

Paul Slater says:

February 6, 2010 at 2:06 am

Jill,

Couldn’t agree more – I just hope it wasn’t one of my articles that offended you!

Most people accept occasional errors from people they know really well because they know it’s out of the ordinary and was probably the result of trying to type too quickly. The difficulty arises when such mistakes are seen by clients and potential clients who, as you say, form an opinion of you and your company based on what they read – spelling errors and all.

Spell checkers are great of course but they don’t pick up ‘to’ instead of ‘too’ or ‘form’ instead of ‘from’. Always best to quickly read through what you’ve written before hitting send.

Paul

Reply
Christie says:

February 17, 2010 at 2:47 am

I agree with you!

Paul summed up my own concerns when he mentions the possibility of clients being exposed to these errors and forming negative opinions.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the number of very obvious typos and spelling errors we were finding on resumes from people claiming to have “excellent communication skills” and “attention to detail”. It frightens me.

Reply
Ross says:

March 5, 2010 at 9:32 am

I thought it was just me!! Couldn’t agree more. Sad to say, if I see a spelling mistake, I tend to mistrust the entire content. I know it’s wrong, but there you are….
I think we’re a lot more forgiving in the email context, but for printed material, no chance.
Call me old fashioned ay? I suspect I b/s my way with my grammer somedays, but my spelling, I hope is the proverbail wool over the eyes!
Good piece
Ross

Reply
Ross says:

March 5, 2010 at 9:33 am

Ooops! Ha Ha… I meant “proverbial” !!!

Reply