On more than one occasion my students (and, frankly, my own colleagues and classmates) have seemed to find me too "rigid" on issues of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. But I can't help it. I think these issues matter. I think they're especially important for writers.
We all make mistakes. We all suffer from typos and faulty proofreading now and then. That's not the problem. The problem is a blanket informality and indifference to the "rules" and the criticism leveled against those who try to preserve high standards rather than those for whom "standards" seems to be a dirty word. So I found myself nodding in agreement today as I read Johnny Gunn's online article, "Who Cares If It's Spelled Right?"
Give it a read and see what you think.
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2 comments:
As a professional copy editor I care deeply about proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure. As a reader and converstationalist I still care.
Having maintained my freelance editing practice for longer than some of my in-house contacts have been alive, I wonder occasionally whether they and I speak the same language. The other day I accepted a small assignment despite my heavy schedule, which I mentioned in my e-mail message. My in-house editor, a recent English honors graduate, responded with "You're a real trooper."
I think she meant "trouper."
As a freelance writer and past editor I also applauded Johnny Gunn's great article in Slate.
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