The Art of Letter/Article Writing - Spelling and Grammar

Have you ever received a marketing letter promoting some really good retail goods and been put off by the number of spelling mistakes or grammatical errors? I have received such letters from highly thought of professional companies which have made me wince. How these ever passed the proof reading stage I don't know. Is good grammar and spelling a lost art? and can it actually lose you business? I get so irritated by these errors that I can't be bothered to read what the letter is really about.

Back in my school days spelling and grammar were of prime importance when writing essays on any subject. Weekly spelling tests were the norm. We left school knowing at least how to spell common usage words and how to put a sentence together grammatically. Today I'm not so sure.

Going back many years when I first worked in a Bank part of my job was to write letters to solicitors, accountants and customers. It was very important to not only get the information correct, but also the spelling and grammar. We had secretaries then who would type the letter and correct anything as they did so. The letter would be returned to me to be checked and then a manager would sign it. The manager would also ensure that spelling, grammar and information was correct. Yes, it was a bit long winded and expensive even if the end result was very good.

Over the years staff in most companies was reduced until now, letters are written straight onto the computer and are rarely checked. No wonder we get mistakes occurring. Most people use computers or word processors and these have a built in spell checker. This makes life so easy and we all get lazy about our spelling because the computer will do this for us. However, the English language is full of words which sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings. We have there and their, hear and here, bough and bow to mention just a few. We also have UK and US spelling.

Therefore, we cannot just trust the spellchecker completely. We need to proof read our letter or article to ensure that the correct words are used, given the meaning of the sentence. A little time taken to proof read a letter, or get a colleague to do it, may earn you more sales, less complaints and a reputation for being very professional.