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72. Get it right and no-one notices
by iKnow
72
GET IT RIGHT AND NO-ONE NOTICES
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When you get your spelling, grammar and punctuation right, it makes your writing easier to read, but no-one really notices that. They just read what you’ve written. That’s why it’s important to put your apostrophes in the right place. The people who believe that these details are very important will be happy and the people who don’t know the difference won’t be bothered either way.
The idea An experienced training director once explained to me the way in which small details affect a brand identity. She said that when you’re on an aeroplane and you’re given a coaster with a coffee stain on it, you think the plane might fall out of the sky. It gives the impression that people don’t care about details. If they don’t care about the coasters, perhaps they’ve forgotten to oil the ailerons. When you’re given a clean coaster, it’s just a coaster and it doesn’t disturb your train of thought.
When you’re writing for business, your aim is to get people interested so that they start reading, keep them interested until they get to the end, then encourage them to do something. That could be anything from buying a house to changing their views. If you distract them by making your writing diffi cult to follow, then you’ll distract them and lose their attention.
In practice • There are plenty of people who love proofreading; they like nothing better than to spot your errors and point them out to you. Bring it on. Better that they’re spotted and corrected by your own people than your customers. • Although there is no grammar book, not even Gower, that says you can’t start a sentence with and or but, there are millions of people who were taught this at school. If you are dealing with people who were taught by grammarians with Victorian values, don’t do it, because it upsets them. • Ad copy is different. Short sentences. They love it. But that’s a particular style that belongs in headlines and on poster sites. Leave it out of your web copy and your customer letters.
