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!
Since, almost by accident, I have become a ‘professional blogger’ / ‘professional writer’, I am endeavouring to improve this aspect of writing, and over the years have learnt to enjoy this aspect of writing more. (1)
I did intend to write an article here, but it made more sense to share at my Cycling Blog, for my long-suffering cycling readers.
This is the article from Cycling Uphill.
One other point of interest that has changed my perceptions of grammar is working with Sri Chinmoy’s writings at Sri Chinmoy Library. In this particular field, I get great joy from correcting even the smallest error. Reading Sri Chinmoy’s writings, especially the poetry, does give a different perspective to the importance and value of perfection.
One other thing worth mentioning is that I am now using ‘Grammarly‘ – a plugin for Firefox. It is helpful for catching some grammatical issues. It is not always correct – but, since I write a lot, it is quite helpful. I am now spending my time checking through all the articles I’ve published over the year. Just a shame I have about 5,000 articles to get through…
It did annoy/amuse me when I wrote “elderly people”, and it underlined the phrase and said:
“This phrase is possibly politically incorrect and may be deemed outdated, disrespectful or offensive to some people.”
Notes
(1) Nearly published this as (‘and other the years have learnt’)