Are We Losing the Desire to Write Well?
British polling company ICM Research recently conducted a
survey that found that around two-thirds of the two thousand
18-24 year olds surveyed cared "NOT AT ALL" about punctuation,
spelling and grammar when composing e-mail.
This overly casual attitude to e-mail seems to be quite
widespread -- and not just among 18-24 year olds. Much of the
e-mail I receive (from both friends and business colleagues) is
poorly written. Now this may be defensible in personal
correspondence, but sloppy writing has no place in business.
Remember, you are JUDGED on the way you write.
In a face-to-face meeting, you will be judged on your looks,
height, clothing, perceived wealth, accent, class and a whole
host of other features. While we tell our children not to judge a
book by its cover, the reality is that we do exactly that every
day of our lives.
When reading a piece of correspondence from someone you have
not met face-to-face, though, none of these factors are present.
You have only one thing with which to form an impression of them
-- their WRITING.
So, in this twenty-first century world of increasingly faceless
communication, your writing is more important than ever. I say
again: you are judged by the way you write, so write well.
End of rant.
About the Author
Tim North
http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com
info@betterwritingskills.com
You'll find over 200 tips like this in Tim North's new e-book
BETTER WRITING SKILLS.