tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post8562224377922947635..comments2024-03-26T17:14:51.195+01:00Comments on An eclectic IT career: Mayo Takeuchi: Why spelling and grammar matterMayo Takeuchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284278371096410534noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post-36047963048519773032011-07-18T09:36:29.738+02:002011-07-18T09:36:29.738+02:00Hello Klaus, it seems to be my turn to thank you f...Hello Klaus, it seems to be my turn to thank you for catching a problem - I've now replaced that "that" with "but": I think I'd intended to use the latter originally. As well, I'd said "written and pronunciation" when "writing and pronunciation" makes better sense.Mayo Takeuchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18284278371096410534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post-7144272723769858522011-07-18T07:32:54.583+02:002011-07-18T07:32:54.583+02:00Like you, I appreciate reading well written text a...Like you, I appreciate reading well written text and want to see that the author has made a reasonable effort to deliver something that follows the rules and convention of the language. <br /><br />The more formal or important the writing, the more rigorous checking I would expect from the writer, so I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about poorly written resumes and I have received some bad examples, ironically even for positions as writer and editor.<br /><br />PS. Not trying to be picky but does the sentence "Perhaps it's because English was not my first language ..." really take a comma? One of the – possibly incorrect or incomplete – rules I remember from my English classes was to never use a comma with "that", the other was something about split infinitives :-)Klaus Johannes Ruschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08705380350689597775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post-19117266234440584062011-07-17T11:14:36.318+02:002011-07-17T11:14:36.318+02:00@Caesar, you definitely make a good point about ho...@Caesar, you definitely make a good point about how orthographic rules are in flux (I'm waiting until judgment gets its first "e" back, since so many people prefer the "incorrect" form of judgement). <br /><br />However, "sincere ignorance" on the part of someone whose writing I read is not easily discernable, and regarding your specific example of "greengrocer's apostrophe usage" (or is it "greengrocers' apostrophe"?) unless the writer IS a greengrocer, or uses the apostrophe in this way for food nouns, I still wouldn't think it appropriate for use in the IT industry. Unless it's related to my natural language processing work and it cited as an example of what grammar check should support in a specific context, perhaps.Mayo Takeuchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18284278371096410534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post-87681760227962845972011-07-16T13:42:07.544+02:002011-07-16T13:42:07.544+02:00I, too, used to be an ardent supporter of what you...I, too, used to be an ardent supporter of what you refer to as "basic grammar rules and orthography" but after being (indirectly) labelled a "Trussian" (after Lynne Truss, author of "Eats Shoots and Leaves") by David Crystal in his book, How Language Works, I'm somewhat more lenient now.<br /><br />He argues rather compellingly, that clarity and lack of ambiguity are the gold standards by which we should judge all communications, and that widespread (ab)use by the general populace will always prevail over a rigorous application of The Rules.<br /><br />He cites Truss's criticism of "The greengrocer's apostrope" (where an apostrophe is inserted before the "s" in a pluralised noun, e.g. Apple's - $1/kg), and argues that this was the "correct" form until sometime in the 18th Century when the fashion of the language changed (and greengrocers presumably didn't). I quote: "to condemn someone for using such forms as potato’s is actually to display linguistic ignorance – an ignorance of the logic behind such forms which the modern users are unconsciously manifesting."<br /><br />So while yes, sometimes it can be an indicator for a lack of attention to detail, this may not always entirely be the case if the writer is sincerely ignorant of his or her mistake. Hence I now personally would not pass over a candidate purely on the basis of a misplaced apostrophe.Caesarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914334854411142127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447307963244691801.post-12813873887279746612011-07-15T19:11:00.796+02:002011-07-15T19:11:00.796+02:00The second point you make is especially important ...The second point you make is especially important and I can attest to it firsthand. I have been reviewing a large number of resumes lately and I am often disappointed in the number of spelling and grammatical errors I see. Many of them could be caught with the tools most likely used to create the documents. Personally, I will discount or occasionally even disqualify a candidate based on these errors as it indicates to me laziness, sloppiness, or some other undesirable quality in the applicant.Mickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01851933450818773697noreply@blogger.com