Just Another Brick in the Wall

To communicate with one another, we need two things: a vocabulary, and some grammar. (Otherwise we degenerate to using rude hand gestures!) Together, these create our language.

Our vocabulary (the words we use) provides us with the building blocks of our language. That’s why it’s important to understand fully what words mean and also to be able to spell them correctly. However, as many builders know, it’s all very well having the right building blocks to create a wall, but there’s a bit of cement required in order to hold it all together.

This is where the grammar comes in. Once the rules of grammar have been applied, our ‘language wall’ will stand without any further support and remain robust. But if you make grammatical mistakes the language wall is weakened in a way that could cause it to collapse. That might sound dramatic, but you only need to read Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss to see how a missing comma can make a huge difference to the meaning of a sentence!

Using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation is important all the time – and it’s worth getting into good habits. But it becomes even more important if you hope to succeed in business (either your own, or working for someone else). If you need to raise money to expand your business you must be able to put together a decent business plan; if you want to promote your business you need to be able to write a press release that will tempt editors to publish it; if you need to pass on information to colleagues or potential investors you should be able to write logical, concise reports and if you want to sell your products you need to be able to write persuasive sales letters and brochures.

You obviously don’t want to be seen as uneducated. But, more importantly, if you do make mistakes it could lead to all kind of problems. Just imagine if you say: ‘We have not received the order’ when what you really mean is ‘We have now received the order’. An easy mistake to make – and one that your spell checker won’t pick up!

I can’t stress how important it is to write clearly, concisely and grammatically if you want to be taken seriously in the business world. But before I leave you, here’s a quote from the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves which I mentioned earlier. I hope it makes you smile – but if you’re not sure of the point it’s making, then I suggest you buy a copy!

“A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

‘Why?’ asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit.

The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife annual and tosses it over his shoulder. ‘I'm a panda,’ he says, at the door. ‘Look it up.’

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”

Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation