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Writing and Shooting for Publications - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

by Mike McNamee Published 01/08/2016

The importance of spelling and grammar

This is a topic which has fallen in disrepair with the rise of social media, email and texting. The language of the smart phone is not suited to a business-to-business communication channel (eg website, promo literature, advertisement, pop-up stand, etc) and of dubious suitability to a business-to-public communication (eg photographer to prospective wedding couple). Let's put that simply - you may not care about correct apostrophe use or even know the rules, but if just one bride's father, who is a stickler over such matters, rejects you from the list of potential photographers for his little treasure's wedding, then you have lost the equivalent of what it would have cost you to have the website professionally proof read in the first place (and perhaps done a certain level of reputation damage, daddy might not ask you to photograph his new showroom either). There is no shame in being a struggler with spelling and grammar (have you noticed how easily people say 'I'm rubbish at maths' but are reluctant to admit 'I can't spell/write for toffee'). The shame comes in being too complacent to both recognise the issue and work around it. Creatives are notoriously bad at spelling and grammar, and suffer abnormal levels of dyslexia - you are neither alone nor unusual out there! And don't think you are being lectured to by know-alls here, we make lots of mistakes but strive to kill them all before going to press (and rarely suceed!).

Very few people can effectively proof-read their own material - get somebody else to do it! A professional proof-reader would be even better.

We asked professional proof-reader, Shirley Macintosh, for some howler tales and the importance of proof reading in her field (see alongside).

Test for your prospective proof-reader.

How many errors did you detect?

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When Apple Corps launched their first iPhone in 2008, it didn't dissappoint. In fact, it immediately captured the collective imagination with a geeky allure driven by Apples slick design, the phone's smart flexibilty and it's inovative multi-touch approach.

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1st Published 01/08/2016
last update 09/12/2022 15:00:30

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Writing and Shooting for Publications - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8