Grammar is the study of words, how they are used in sentences, and how they change in different situations. It is the set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in a natural language.
We write to educate, entertain, inform and inspire. Without proper communication; grammar and punctuation, the message gets distorted and hard to understand. While venturing into writing, one has to fully understand the aspects of grammar and how best to pass the message across.
Poor grammar builds mistrust for your readers and can even cost you money. A poorly written article with bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation is tedious and hard to read for the reader. A reader will not be interested to read from you again as they do not take you seriously and therefore, trust is broken. For example, a sentence reading, ‘We offers writing and resarch services for all your writing needs call us today!’ is poorly written and builds doubt to a potential client. Strong command of a language fosters credibility and belief.
Poor grammar slows a reader down and causes frustrations. The intended reader experience is distorted as the reader will take more time to try to figure out what you are saying. This wasted time is frustrating and usually leads the reader to give up midway and creates an impression that you do not care. To avoid such experiences, a writer should be keen on their writing.
Apart from mistrust and slowing down readers, poor writing can lead to missed opportunities. A potential customer who might have wanted your services will not pursue that thought further as they feel you cannot deliver. Also, a writer can miss work opportunities with corporates and brands because they show a lack of credibility and unprofessionalism.
Lack of proper punctuation marks is not only confusing but can entirely change the meaning of what you want to pass across. A writer should learn the basic tenets of punctuation before they start writing. For example, ‘A woman without her man is nothing’ and ‘A woman; without her, man is nothing’ have two different meanings! A writer should be careful where they place their commas, hyphens, apostrophes, colons, and other punctuation marks.
An individual who is writing in a language that is not their native language should be very careful while writing especially for an audience who understands the language. Common grammar mistakes usually include; confusing words like your and you’re and there, their, and they’re. Too much use of preposition words which lengthens sentences and adds little to the meaning is also a common mistake, the use of apostrophe’s e.g. Its and It’s, double negatives and sentence fragments are also examples of grammatical errors.
When running a blog or website online, perfect grammar is important as it effectively and accurately passes the message intended, saves you time, and helps you appear intelligent and confident to your reader.
Although mistakes do happen, it is always important to learn ways on how to avoid them. A writer can ensure they are well conversant with the grammar they are writing in, which also includes taking courses to learn more and update their grammar use which entails learning how to proofread and edit articles. A writer can also use software that will help identify when such errors are made and advice on alternative solutions. The writer can also outsource professionals like editors who can help you write in a professional manner.