is spelling and puntuation important.

[Doc Spock]

I am reasonably good at the above, alas my children are not.
Looking at A B random posts it seems the level of accuracy in spelling is poor, does it matter?

[Goodsoulette]

I think most of the poor spelling you see are typos. As long as it is understandable, I do not see what the problem is. Most jobs do not require an ability to spell.

[OBonio]

Yes, it does matter. I've just e-mailed my brother's CV out and it's full of little errors. That speaks volumes to any employer and personally I would bin such applications.

Obviously that's an instance where spelling is important. On AB it doesn't really matter as it is informal.

But I would say that bad habits may form from such cavalier use of the language. Hence I try my best to keep my spelling and fluctuation in cheque.

[RATTER15]

I agree with goodsoulette in as much as most jobs do not require the ability to spell but when you are sat in the office of a prospective employer and filling out a job application, you will look a bit thick if you cannot spell or punctuate!!

I think spelling, grammar and punctuation is extremely important.

however, mine is dreadful lol!!!

[Doc Spock]

I hope bonio that cheque is a joke.

[Doc Spock]

Course it is.

[OBonio]

and fluctuation.....

[Goodsoulette]

in a CV I would expect near perfect spelling because this would show effort. It takes near to no effort to spellcheck it. However, I wouldn't bin a poorly laid out CV, the part of a CV I bases most of my decisions on were to do with hobbies and interests. If they could do better than reading, swimming and socialising, I was interested in working with them.

[unruliejulie]

i don't think its that important if the grammar is correct. some posters threads just don't seem to make sense and i lose interest as I'm reading cause its gobbledygook!

I am terrible for making typos but i do like to get my punctuation right as it makes all the difference to how we read things. Sometimes i don't bother too much with apostrophes but i like comma and full stops where they should be. I'm sure I'm guilty of not always abiding by this though lol

On the whole i would say spelling doesn't matter so long as its legible, punctuation does and it does need to make sense!

[unruliejulie]

sorry, meant to say thats ok on here but as a job application, yes, i think it matters a lot. Simple stuff but it shows a good understanding of basic English and if i were an employer, it would matter to me..

[stewey]

"Punkunation". Does that refer to the caliber of some of the young folk in the UK?

[Hammer Head]

Yes, it matters a great deal. I would say that over half of the posts on here contain extremely bad grammar, spelling and punctuation. I tend to overlook typos because we can all slip up from time to time. However, the same mistakes crop up consistently.

Pluralising nouns using an apostrophe.

Not knowing the difference between their, there and they're.

Writing long posts without any punctuation whatsoever.

Using different tenses in the same sentence.


Regarding the use of the apostrophe to pluralise nouns, it is all too common on this forum. Many people do it but not one of them has ever been taught it. So where does it come from?

At an agricultural show last year, I nearly fell over when I saw the following PAINTED in words twelve inches high on the side of a food van,
FISH & CHIP'S BURGER'S DRINK'S

I believe that standards must be maintained before the poor grammar seen on here becomes the norm.

[Doc Spock]

Quite agree hammerhead. However, the apostrophe is fiendishly difficult to master.

[Hammer Head]

The use of the apostrophe is simple if you follow a few basic rules. However there is just one rule when pluralising nouns using an apostrophe. DON'T DO IT.

[whiffey]

The apostrophe isnt difficult to master at all. Have to words been contracted here ? If so you do'nt need an apostrophe. Does anybody own anything in this sentance ? - Likewise.

Spelling and punctuation are critically important. Type a fullstop instead of a semicolon in a 1000-line computer program and you can bring down governments, satellytes, hole countries.

[Hammer Head]

Whiffey, you're either having a laugh or proving my point.

[thugulike]

Yes, both matter. I would say that as I work in education though. I recently analysed some questionnaires and was puzzled that someone was cleaning a moped in a school. Took me a while to realise it was mopped not moped.

[ummmm]

Sometimes it's just nice when they put anything in, so we know when to breath !!

[Doc Spock]

moot point tonyted.

[joko]

i don't mind typos or capitals, but i hate no punctuation.
the amount of times i have had to reread posts because they don't make sense without some sort of punctuation.

sometimes i will just give up - if they can't be bothered to ensure their post is easy to read and understand, i can't be bothered to reply

even if someone gets it a bit wrong or uses to much, at least they have tried to construct a decently written piece.

the younger people that come on and claim it doesn't matter and insist on using textspeak, do so not because they really believe it doesn't matter but because they likely struggle with writing so don't even try - which is very sad.

they don't realise that some text speak is hard to read - as there are few standards and it is often just madeup as they go along - it makes reading ''juddery'' with stopping, starting, re-reading etc - so i usually ignore that too.

however, on here, there is no need for ''CV quality'' english, but just a bit of effort would be nice.