Grammar for Credibility

My husband and I enjoy watching reruns of the ’70s game show Match Game. If you’ve never seen it, six celebrities answer a ‘fill in the blank’ statement and contestants try to match their answers. Well, many of these celebrities were known for their horrible spelling. After all, as an actor, correct spelling isn’t a required skill. They could get away with it because it wouldn’t hurt their credibility in their profession.

 

But consider other jobs or professions where having at least a basic skill of proper spelling, use of punctuation, and grammar could mean the difference for someone’s credibility. I recently saw a LinkedIn post from someone who announced that they are running for public office. The short post was littered with issues, including spaces between words and periods or commas, improper use of words, and spelling issues. I don’t know about you, but if I had someone who wanted to represent me and my hometown, and so publicly, I would want them to have some basic spelling and grammar skills. Or at least the knowledge to have a family member or friend edit their words before posting. Their credibility could come into question with many voters, especially on a professional platform like LinkedIn.

 

Not everyone is blessed with stellar English skills. If hiring an editor doesn’t make sense for small posts on social media, then at minimum, type out your post first in Microsoft Word so it can alert you to any grammar, spelling, or punctuation issues. You can also use a service like Grammarly to help. These programs don’t catch all issues, but it will catch the big ones that could mean the difference between someone respecting you and your views or not.