Some observers of the lack of good grammar would point the syntax finger of blame firmly in the face of texting. With its abbreviated spelling of words, limited capitalization and lack of sentence structure, some have blamed the popularity of the mobile messaging phenomenon for the demise of writing skills. Others would argue that it is no different than the days of the telegraph, when people paid by the word and shortened sentences by leaving out non-essential words. The literature of the 19^th century did not suffer because the telegraph was the most popular form of instant communication. People simply used the language in a different way when they were sending a message on a telegraph than they did when they were writing a letter. Some would question whether today's society can make such a distinction.

The other day I received a resume from a recent college graduate.  I found several  misspelled words in a quick read of his resume. The item that really caught my attention was a phrase that he used incorrectly in his cover letter. He stated that he had been "spending his wheels" in his present job and needed to find new employment. Spending his wheels would imply that he was in some odd bartering group that allowed you to purchase items in exchange for wheels. Of course he meant he had been "spinning his wheels." My suspicion is he knew the difference between "spending" and "spinning" and just typed the wrong word. His spell check didn't see anything unusual about the word "spending" so it did not receive the red underline warning of unrecognized words. The problem is, we have turned over much of the job of proofreading to an electronic spell checker with limited sentence structure controls. Have we relied upon technology to the point that we don't remember the rules any longer? There was a time when any form of communication that went out of an office was proofread by another employee. Many businesses hired a professional proofreader. "Today, it is actually hard to put your hands on something that has been professionally copy-edited" says Bryan Garner in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Garner is the author of Garner's Modern American Usage, a book that corrects common gaffes in marketplace English. In those days, it was a big deal when bad grammar slipped past the eyes of the proofreader and ended up being published. Today it is commonplace.

However common, it does not make it right. You should consider the message it sends to your customers when you are careless with grammar in your communications. At the least, they could be getting a good laugh at your expense. At the worst, they could be thinking that if you are that careless with your own communications collateral, you will be even more careless when you are dealing with the things that are important to them. They will judge you by your own words. Is it reasonable to think that every email and every text message needs to be proofread before it is sent? Probably not, but the most important communication pieces should be sent to a second set of eyes within your company before you send it to your customers. Spending an extra ten minutes proofreading your message today is insurance against tomorrow's embarrassment.