It was interesting to write about the evolution of blogging and also gain a quick glimpse of my first efforts at blogging – 12 years ago.
One issue about blogging is checking your writing for grammar and spelling. How important is it?
Readers will fall into different categories.
- Some will not notice mistakes.
- Some will notice quite a few but not mind.
- Some will notice small mistakes and feel it diminishes their reading experience.
Can you spot the difference?
- Clean up your rubbish!
- Clean up, you’re rubbish! (1)
- A panda comes into a bar. He eats, shoots and leaves.
- A panda comes into a bar. He eats shoots and leaves. (2)
At school, I gained a grade A in GCSE English. But whatever I learnt in school, it wasn’t anything about grammar or spelling. I remember my English teacher putting copious amounts of red ink on my scripts, but I never remember learning any particular rules about grammar.
When I went to Oxford University, I remember a professor handing back an essay with a mark B+. He added the comment – “Very good, but it would have been an A – if you had given even the briefest attention to correct grammar and spelling”. I remember being very happy to get a B+ from Oxford. That was good enough for me!
When I started blogging and writing, the occasional reader would point out a mistake. My reaction has always been to correct any errors and try to learn. No one likes to be corrected, but I take corrections in the spirit of learning. Over the past 10 years, I am grateful to people who have taken the time to point out mistakes.
Generally, I’m not a great fan of internet comments; but I find it amusing/ironic that I’ve learnt more grammar rules from internet comments than I did from school or at Oxford University.
