...
Of recognizing a common intention to engage in quick and easy communication, and focusing on the message being transmitted instead of the mechanics of how it is delivered.
When someone points out such errors online I immediately assume the person is either a prig taking a cheap shot to demean someone or someone who is being incredibly naive in their assumption such correction will be well received and helpful.
Professional communicators should know things like the less/fewer thing as part of their professional skill set and in their case sloppy grammar hints at sloppy professional standards. Working class stiffs get judged much less harshly.
...
Sometimes precision matters and sloppy grammar can change the meaning.
Sometimes people point out errors that a person makes consistently. That is intended to be helpful. As a rule of thumb the advice is less welcome if it is really needed.
Depending on the topic of the forum everyone may be judged harshly. A couple of weeks ago I found a thread where a moderator gave a hint to a person with poor writing. He pointed out that it did matter:
- when you do not bother to try proper writing why should we bother to figure out?
- If we try to figure out, we might be wrong and give bad advice.
- High voltage experiments require following the rules carefully. We do not trust people with your writing to be aware of it.
Previous Topic
Index
