Grammar – Important or Not?
I recently read a short story about a man who lost the love of his life and was trying to move forward. The story’s description sounded promising. Then I started reading and the story was riddled with grammar errors. Females in the story were regularly referenced as “he.” The male lead was named Jacob; however, the name often appeared as Jacob’. Even though the storyline had potential, the grammar and poor writing ruined the story. I would not recommend it and left a review noting these issues.
Another reader posted a review stating that she would recommend it. Not one word of her review mentioned the grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. Let’s assume that the other reader wasn’t a confederate for the author and wrote an honest review. Does language matter or is it just fine to ignore structure and rules?
For years I wouldn’t even abbreviate on phone texts. The voice of Mrs. Henderson, my 5th grade grammar teacher, echoes in my head reminding me of the proper use of punctuation, verb tense, capitalization, and spelling. If you were fortunate enough to have had a Mrs. Henderson in your education experience, grammar errors ruin a book for you, too.
But what if you don’t have a command of language rules? What if you are an “anything goes” kind of person? What if you could read a book or story and totally overlook all the language problems? Are we losing the art of language by not panning these poorly written books?
I also read many children’s books and, oh, my! If our children pattern their grammar after some of these books, all grammar rules are going to be useless in just a few generations.
What are your thoughts? Are we losing a fragile hold on language and structure? Do I have grammar or punctuation errors in this post? If so, I’ll diagram each sentence as penance. Mrs. Henderson would expect no less.
Tequila Mockingbird?
This article in the Christian Science Monitor features some of the most interesting things that customers have said in bookstores. Such as this one: “What books could I buy to make guests look at my bookshelf and think, ‘Wow, that guy’s intelligent’?”
I’ve thought the same thing about what books to keep on my Kindle first page when showing it to others. Have you “frontloaded” your Kindle?
Enjoy the chuckles!
Cheap Romance Reads
Enjoy these cheap romances, selling for only $1.00 each. Time to start stocking up for the winter!
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Grammar bothers some people more than others, that is for sure. I have noticed the proofreading/copyediting is getting worse no matter which books you buy. I just read a book published by Penguin–and it had 3 typos that I noticed. It also had a plot hole that I really think should have been caught. I was talking about the book and the typos on another board and someone mentioned the Penguin book she just finished had several typos (different book). I guess publishing companies just aren’t paying for as much copyediting.
The plot hole bothered me more than the typos. I can live with 3 or 4 typos, but I don’t expect them. If the publishers are going to cut costs, then they should give me a discount!
Yes, grammar, spelling and punctuation make a difference. In a casual email or something of that sort I will overlook a lot. But if you want to be considered (and presumably paid as) a writer, you need to act as a professional. Nobody’s perfect, but mistakes need to be kept to a minimum.
Yes, Maria –
It is also a problem in big publishing houses. Too much reliance on spell checkers or a rush to get to print may be the reasons. Or copyeditors just aren’t that schooled in grammar.
–Paula
Grammar and punctuation errors are like nails on a blackboard to me. It seems like they are everywhere these days, not just in books, and especially the incorrect use of the apostrophe. Lately I have seen a sign at a pub that promised “Good food, good drink, and good friend’s”. I keep wanting to say “good friend’s WHAT”? And last week I passed this sign in front of a shop “We make sign’s”, Not my signs, they don’t. I want to thank you for leaving the book review pointing out the errors. If I had bought it I would have asked for my money back. I expect that any product I buy is made well, and for books that means good spelling, grammar, and puctuation.
Ginni –
Yes, yes, yes! To everything! The mis-use of apostrophes and quote marks are a national disgrace.
And businesses provide some amusing and disgusting examples of errors. My husband’s favorite sign in our town is at the automitic car wash – whatever that is. We just pay our $8, drive through and sigh at how these things occur.
–Paula
The mistakes I have been finding in books drive me crazy, then I drive the people around me crazy telling them about them. Books by best selling, famous authors aren’t exempt either. And not just the he/she, wrong name/spelling, time of day, color of clothing, time of day, hear/here, their/they’re/there mistakes; but complete plot changes from one book to another about past events when writing series. And yes, I will mark the mistakes and cross reference earlier books to show friends and family because it irks me so much! I tend to be more lenient to free or inexpensive short stories on kindle, but when paying big bucks for a hard back from a well known author makes me want to send the books back with all the mistakes clearly marked.
RoseRed –
You are much more dilligent than I am at noting errors, but I agree that a hardbound book with numerous errors is inexcusable.
I would think that libraries are now the biggest consumers of hardbound books. Perhaps they will lead in a crusade to stop this trend.
–Paula
From Kitty via our feedback form:
Grammar errors! They make me crazy. I recently started a very promising book that I could not finish because I was so distracted by the grammar and punctuation errors. I think that is a shame. I have thought about becoming a freelance editor but fear that I would stop enjoying reading for fun. There is a definite difference in my opinion if a writer is using errata for effect, such as in character’s speech or perhaps even as an effect in first person narrative. In all events, the grammar should not distract from the story and for me, the errors can easily turn me away from a book.
Kitty –
If you have editing skills, I would encourage you to become one and help all of the readers of the world who care about grammar. Perhaps you could edit books that don’t have a natural appeal (so it would seem like work) and then you would still read your preferred genre for fun. If you love to read anything, you would be in trouble.
I agree that local speech is appropriate. Mark Twain wrote many books with the local flavor without sacrificing grammar. It can be done and done well.
–Paula
From Monica – Posted to the graphic:
38.107.226.1 Submitted on 2012/10/11 at 11:22 am
I am an admitted proud part of the Grammar Police – by profession (4th Grade Reading and Writing Teacher) as well as by my lifetime love of Reading. Even in Elementary school, it was hard to tolerate a misspelled word displayed anywhere. My teachers started giving me “extra points” to celebrate their “secretly planted mistake”. I still remain sure that was a coverup for mistakes that they’d overlooked ; ) Yes, I sometimes use the same strategy!
I tried hard to stick with my refusal to shop at any place that starts —- R Us, but then, we had a daughter so what do you do? My husband has remarked more than once that he dreams of the Sunday he can read the entire newspaper without me calling out printed errors located in the section that I’m reading. I can’t help it, these things just jump out at me and I just can’t not marvel in disgust! How about you?
Monica –
Bless you for your profession. What an opportunity to teach these children the value of knowing grammar and language and delighting in its correct usage. What clever teachers you had and how wise you are to continue the practice.
You and my husband are kindred spirits with the newspaper. He reads two daily papers and laments the typos and grammar errors, too. These errors will jump out at anyone who knows grammar.
–Paula
I can get past a typo or two but when a book is full of them (I assume no editing because they can be glaringly obvious) I can’t read any more cuz it will distract me. I report it to Amazon and ask them to take it down when its so bad! I don’t know if they do or not but there is a simple form to fill right on the page to report it. I got a bunch of updated books recently saying editing fixed but haven’t checked. I recommend to fill that form and report them. With all I read I haven’t written reviews unless none is up.
I think Sony or someplace had the special of 30 ebooks for a buck so glad Amazon matched the prices! Thanks!
You’ve hit on one of my pet peeves. I was raised by an English teacher, and I always notice the grammar errors in books. If the story is good enough, I can overlook them to some extent, but when the errors are coupled with a weak plot or one dimensional characters that’s a real turnoff for me. In fact, I wrote a bad review of a book on Amazon because it was riddled with grammatical errors, and the author tracked me down and had her cronies harassing me for weeks afterward. I’ve noticed an increase in bad grammar and typos in the past few years. It’s understandable for authors to make errors. When you are writing something, you have an idea in your mind of what you want to say, and it isn’t always apparent to you that there are problems. However, there’s no excuse for editors not catching and correcting the errors.
book lover –
You make a very valid point that is isn’t always evident to the author where the reader might be confused or not understand. An objective reader needs to provide input. And the author needs to accept criticism or they will not succeed.
So many simple things that can be done to make reading better for all of us.
–Paula
Comment from Monica:
I am so blessed to teach what I love the most! My mantra with my students is our individual power can be found in our words – whether written or spoken. We celebrate every time they use the “power of the word”! They’ve decided on their own that a bit of that “power” gets swallowed and lost if we use our Texas Twang.
It depends on the situation. I’m hardly going to gripe about ending a sentence with a preposition or the occasional comma in (or not in) a dubious spot. But a ‘s on a plural or confusion between homonyms? Oh, no way. I won’t touch those books with a ten foot pole.
About a year ago, I came across a book that had they’re/there/their confusion in the SUMMARY. It sounded really interesting but if the summary has issues, imagine how bad the book is going to be! I wrote the author and explained why I wasn’t going to read his book, and he fixed the error. I really wonder if I should have kept my mouth shut and let the misused word ward off other discriminating readers.
I’m fairly lenient on genuine typos – where a single letter or punctuation mark gets left out – as long as they’re rare but they still bring me to a halt when I read them. I’ve spotted several instances of missing quotation marks in my current book – just one of a set will be gone – and it’s really been annoying me.
Mel –
You have made a good point that most of us can overlook the occasional error. We know that mistakes can happen and several proof readers might not catch an error. When the errors become distracting, the author has lost the reader.
You were thoughtful to give the author an opportunity to correct the mistake. I believe that many authors are trying to meet deadlines and are not as careful as they should be. If you are in a rush to get your book on-line, for goodness sake, take time to proof everything as soon as possible afterwards and fix things.
Good enough is not good enough.
–Paula
From Charleen: I agree that all published books should be error free and the grammar should be correct and polished, however… I do notice grammar errors and typos in e-books and I do mention them in my reviews, however I don’t usually rate the book lower because of them. I have a huge admiration for anyone who can write a book with a good or acceptable plotline and craft something that I can understand and enjoy. If the story is good I can overlook the errors and rewrite in my head. If the story is bad – nothing helps, not even perfect grammar.
I have noticed with one of my favortie authors, that the stories have improved significantly. So yes, we should police the books and report the problems. Incidentally, I notice there are more errors in e-books from the big publishers than I’ve ever seen before, for the price we’re paying they should be perfect!
Charleen –
With price comes the expectation of perfection. Let’s hope the authors of those books from the big publishers are complaining about the quality of the product to the publishers.
–Paula
From Donna via our feedback form:
Yes, yes, yes! Grammar matters! It bothers me a great deal to find typos and incorrect grammar in books. Of course, I had three years of shorthand, typing, and business English training many, many years ago, where if one mistake was made, an automatic F was earned. Grammar, spelling and punctuation rules HAD to be learned — thankfully.
Love your website so thank you for being there!
Donna –
I would have been a shorthand failure. But that is an incentive to learn. Perhaps we have lost that discipline of doing it right with no exceptions.
Thank you for enjoying our site. Your comments are appreciated!
CJE sent this comment via our feedback form:
I’m in 100% agreement with you regarding grammar, punctuation, etc.!!!! An occasional typo in a book sends me in a tailspin. If it gets bad enough, I just have to give up on the book!
I was (and still am) a perfectionist when it comes to following the rules. I have many facebook friends from a much younger generation, and it just floors me to see their apparent lack of education in this regard.
I’ve never commented on here before, but I decided this was a good time to give my two cents’ worth! (BTW, missing an apostrophe in the title, aren’t you?!?!)
CJE –
We are all saddened to see that the electronic age has led to relaxed rules for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Regarding the apostrophe, I’m not sure. What do others think? Is it Your two cents worth? Or Your two cents’ worth? Those of you who know, please advise!
–Paula