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From: goer@sophist.uucp (Richard Goerwitz)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.cog-eng,sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Effects of poor writing?
Message-ID: <2947@tank.uchicago.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 89 14:03:43 GMT
References: <39131@bbn.COM> <1982@trantor.harris-atd.com>
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Reply-To: goer@sophist.UUCP (Richard Goerwitz)
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In article <1982@trantor.harris-atd.com> chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) writes:
>In article <39131@bbn.COM> presnik@bbn.com (Philip Resnik) writes:
>>Does anyone know of a study demonstrating that poor quality 
>>prose loses potential business?
>
>     I would also like to see any such studies.  I know that personally,
>whenever I see spelling or grammar errors I tend to downgrade the
>competency of the writer....
>     Any resume that crosses my desk with spelling or grammar errors is usually
>instantly rejected....
>If you don't care enough to get it right, how can I believe that you'll
>care enough to get your work done right on a regular basis?  Correct spelling
>shows attention to detail and a level of discipline that I value in an
>employee.

Sounds to me as if Chuck Musciano had already made up his mind about the
correlation between general competence and proficiency at trivial tasks
like spelling.

One thing that concerns me here is that CM might not have the same notions
about correctness as someone else.  And in fact, there are many grey areas
in English (and American) usage.  Usage experts themselves often disagree.
For instance, would you use "whose" for "of which"?  The latter is often re-
garded as the better of the two.  Only recently has "whose" come to be ac-
cepted in elite circles as a reasonable replacement for "of which."  So where
do we draw the line?  Whose elitism will rule the day?  Do you split infini-
tives?  End sentences with prepositions?  How about good ol' "I" and "me"?
Will you go with popular usage, and say, "He came with you and I," or will
you "correctly" say, "He came with you and me"?  Or will you "incorrectly" say
the last sentence (thinking you are not paying attention to your grammar)?

Geez, in sci... I'd think we would be more concerned with explaining be-
havior than in guiding it.

                                       -Richard L. Goerwitz
                                       goer@sophist.uchicago.edu
                                       rutgers!oddjob!gide!sophist!goer