Hi, my first post!
I plan to create blogs about grammar, punctuation, word use, and a variety of aspects of plain English and writing. Although
I am not a writer, I greatly enjoy shaping other folks' documents and maintaining a sharp watch for any errors that I notice—in documents, on signs, in PowerPoint presentations, and in books I read for pleasure. Here's what I mean: Just yesterday, I received an email acknowledging, “Your right!” It would have been fun to reply, “Oh, not my left?” but apart from feeling clever, what would be the point?
I am not a writer, I greatly enjoy shaping other folks' documents and maintaining a sharp watch for any errors that I notice—in documents, on signs, in PowerPoint presentations, and in books I read for pleasure. Here's what I mean: Just yesterday, I received an email acknowledging, “Your right!” It would have been fun to reply, “Oh, not my left?” but apart from feeling clever, what would be the point?
Wouldn't I just love to collar someone and correct such use of language! However, I don't want to lose friends and annoy people. Happily, I have found that when folks pay me, they welcome feedback. And from the safety and distance of a blog, I believe I can offer insights and even correct public errors!
For my dissertation, my interest in errors and perceived errors led me to survey 400 individuals in five professional groups on their responses to 100 sentences—whether they saw anything in each sentence that bothered them, from “Bothers me a lot” to “Does not bother me at all.” That was 1984, and the responses ran the gamut. In 2010, I find that essentially all the issues of grammar, usage, and punctuation that bothered folks then still do. Here is my conclusion: “Not all errors are created equal,” an insight that will inform my comments about the issues I address in my blogs.
