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The Business of Good Grammar: Dealmaker or Dealbreaker?
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Knowing how to write a proper sentence is a critical business skill.
You own a struggling young company with tons of potential. Your partner has just handed you a proposal aimed at hooking the biggest fish in your industry. Land this account and your financial woes are over. As you look over the document, spiral bound and printed on crisp linen paper, you zero in on a sentence in the last paragraph.
Your partner has written: "Either Mr. Keller or Ms. Graham are available at all times." Is that correct? you wonder. Should it be "is available" instead?*
Though you consider yourself fairly literate, you admit that you are stumped by the finer points of grammar. With so much at stake, shouldn't you be 100 percent certain that your subjects and verbs agree?
Absolutely! Like it or not, grammar is a yardstick with which people measure intelligence and competence. If you can't write a proper sentence, that potential client may well assume that you aren't smart, sophisticated, or detail-oriented enough to transact with. Grammar matters. A solid mastery of grammatical rules is vital to doing business in the 21st century.
*The sentence should read "Either Mr. Keller or Ms. Graham is available at all times."
Why are so many businesses finding it necessary to train or refresh their employees in the proper use of grammar? There are several reasons:
| Some schools don't do a great job of teaching grammar. We're not trying to knock our education system. Many schools, both public and private, do a fantastic job. But other schools today face unprecedented pressures and challenges—economic, political, and sociological—and teachers can't work miracles. The result is that many young people emerge from high school, and even college, without a firm grasp of the rules of grammar. That shortcoming reveals itself and becomes only clearer within the work force. |
| Globalization and an increasingly diverse population mix are muddying the grammatical waters. As various cultures come together and influence one another—via outsourcing and immigration, for instance—the clear-cut rules governing language can sometimes blur. We are influenced by our friends, our classmates, our coworkers. When different grammars and dialects blend, language patterns can develop new characteristics. Of course, this is nothing new. Like all languages, English is always evolving. It's just that in today's world, the changes remain so rapid that it becomes harder to distinguish proper grammar from common usage. The inevitable result? Confusion. |
| The Internet Age has confused the issue even further. Smart phones, direct messages, and e-mail have changed the way we think about the rules of grammar and punctuation. It would not be unusual to receive the following "text message" on your phone: "im going 2 da office 4 a mtg." Now, imagine receiving that message (scrawled, perhaps, on a "While you were out" message pad) twenty years ago. You probably would have questioned the writer's professionalism. Many of today's younger people are so accustomed to technological shorthand that it can seem "right" to them. It's fast; it's informal; sometimes it's even symbolic of belonging to the zeitgeist. The fact that it's grammatically unsound doesn't bother them. However, it might have a hard landing with a mature CEO. |
| Our super-competitive business world means that, more than ever, image counts. Globalization and technological advances have made the planet our market. That's exciting. But it also means the whole world has also become our competition. When you know that hundreds, if not thousands, of competitors are out there vying for your customers, it tends to keep you on your toes. You want to distinguish you or your business as professional, polished, and smart. That's where good grammar comes in. No manager wants a junior-level assistant sending out e-mails that confuse "its" and "it's" or use "who" when "whom" is correct. Details matter to the image of a business. |
With all of that being said, it's unlikely a business letter with a comma in the wrong place or an ad that confuses "affect" and "effect" will deep-six a company. But such errors might keep you from winning that Fortune 500 client that can really help you grow. Good grammar supports the desire to be all that you can be.
A grasp of formal grammar can be particularly relevant for sales and customer-relations personnel, who are often the face of a company. Just as you wouldn't encourage employees to attend high-level meetings in stained T-shirts or ripped jeans, letting them send grammar-poor letters, e-mails, or proposals would be a business faux pas. Wrong is wrong—and you want your company always to write right.
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