Comments on: Is What You Write More Important than How You Write it?

By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:58:29 +0000

Please stop abusing hyphens. Drat. I hoped to find a clean blog, but instead I found myself navigating over the usual humps. Inappropriate punctuation is, to me, like a pothole in the road. I long for a ride on a smooth, clean, open verbal road.

By: Becky

Becky — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:02:17 +0000

I’ve always thought that ‘writing like you talk’ means maintaining a chatty, natural tone rather than feeling free to throw all the laws of grammar and punctuation out of the window.

Typos happen and homonyms can catch out even people who know better. (The number of times I end up editing a blog post because I suddenly realise I used the wrong word in it is embarrassing), so I tend to cut people some slack, but consistently making the same mistakes is the sign of a problem. (To be fair I have problems – I have terrible trouble with effect/affect to the degree I with try and avoid using them because I know I’ll get it wrong if I do. At least I know I have problems.)

People say that people don’t speak gramatically, but what they mean is people don’t speak with formal grammar. There are still rules in spoken language – just not as many. Fragments are a good example of a formal grammar rule, that doesn’t apply in speech. And if a grammatical fragment works in context I’ll use it in writing as well. Starting sentences and even paragraphs with conjunctions is another thing that’s acceptable in speech, but not in formal grammar.

But it’s not the people who make mistakes – even consistently make mistakes – who really offend me. It’s the ones who if you politely point out they’re using a hononym and it looks sloppy get stroppy with you and tell you not to be a pedant.

I’ll shut up now, because I’m rambling again.

Becky’s last blog post..Writing Progress Report and Plans

By: --Deb

--Deb — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:23:43 +0000

@John--Exactly. It's a turn off. At least, to people who care even a little about writing, anyway... (grin) --Deb’s last blog post..Is What You Write More Important than How You Write it?

By: John Soares

John Soares — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:28:52 +0000

I pay close attention to how well sales pages and ebooks and manuals are written. If the writer isn't willing to pay a relatively small amount of money to have his work edited, where else is he cutting corners? I joined an Internet marketing continuity site a few months ago from one of the top names in the field. However, I canceled immediately when I saw how sloppy his main manual was -- missing words, missing information, formatting problems, misspelled words, grammar, punctuation, etc. John Soares’s last blog post..How Writing College Textbook Supplements Helps Your Writing Career – and Could Get You a Job with a Textbook Publisher

By: --Deb

--Deb — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:07:36 +0000

Of course, some people don't care a whit about the kind of impression they make. If that's the way you roll, good for you--it's not easy to NOT care what other people think. But then I figure I don't have to care about what you think, either. Society is give-and-take, right? --Deb’s last blog post..Is What You Write More Important than How You Write it?

By: Melissa Donovan

Melissa Donovan — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:29:02 +0000

*standing ovation* Well said and elegantly written. Melissa Donovan’s last blog post..Where to Get the Best Creative Writing Tips

By: J

Fri, 08 May 2009 03:06:20 +0000

One problem is that people think they’re writing the way they talk, but they’re not. There’s no difference in the sound of ‘their’, ‘there’, and ‘they’re’, so it’s not caught by the ear.

I agree that people need to think of what kind of impression they’re making. When I see ‘loose’ when the person means to say ‘lose’, that’s laziness and a bad habit. It sets a poor first impression, and it tells me you don’t care about what you’re writing. And, unlike the ‘their’ example, ‘loose’ and ‘lose’ do NOT sound the same.

J’s last blog post..Pasta Ponza

By: --Deb

--Deb — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:30:33 +0000

I absolutely, postively think that writing the way you speak is the best and most natural way to write, and barring high-tech kinds of writing like legal and medical kinds of things, it’s to be preferred to anything stilted and stiff.

BUT. Too many people take the “Write the way you talk” rule as permission to write sloppily and not worry about the details, any more than you worry about the balance of your sentences when you’re catching up on the latest gossip with your friends.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:48:16 +0000

Hi Deb, I agree with Lillie 2/3 of the way. Grammar and spelling should be correct in sales and marketing material. It's as simple as employing a proofreader or outsourcing the work. In terms of tone, I think it depends on the audience and services rendered. It makes sense for a law firm or an academic institution to take a more formal tone than a car dealership or pet store. Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Is Your Website Working? Take The Content Competence Quiz

By: Lillie Ammann

Lillie Ammann — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:59:48 +0000

Deb, I'm in the paradoxical position of agreeing with you on grammar and spelling but generally advising people to write the way they talk (as in my recent series on writing memoir and family history). By that, however, I don't mean make errors. I mean use the words and sentence structure that you ordinarily use. Too many people, in my opinion, try to sound impressive and important and end up with stuffy, stilted, difficult-to-read writing. Sales copy and business documents should be error-free (though none of us is perfect and sometimes a mistake slips through). But I think they should usually be written in a conversational tone rather than sounding like an academic tome. Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..National Day of Prayer 2009