To Err is Human to Spell Correctly is Divine
Or as near as. I'm a stickler for correct spelling because I think the more logical your writing is, the clearer and better-expressed your thoughts are bound to be. Conversely, I love the way the English language is so fluid and bendy-stretchy, and enjoy reading about the myriad ways it has developed over the last c.1500 years (Great Vowel Shift, anyone?).
Offices that concentrate on writing and editorial matters - not just magazines, newspapers or publishing houses, either - tend to create mountains out of molehills in the search for a standard in-house style. I love the kinds of discussions that centre on apostrophe and comma use, as long as everyone also has an eye on the big picture of course - there's no sense splitting sides about split infinitives if the end-user (pc speak!) of your document couldn't care less and probably won't read half of what you're sending anyway. Better to make sure the overall writing is sound and that the document is delivered on time, rather than worrying about too many dangling hyphens.
However, I don't think incorrect grammar should be used in the quest for expediency. Case in point - a couple of years ago at my office, when we started expanding our production of reports and got a few more assistants to help with the editing of the different language versions, we ran into a problem with "check in". The hyphen goes in when it's used as an adjective (check-in counter) and comes out when it's used as a verb (the passengers check in). D'uh, right? Well, the powers that be decided that this was too difficult to remember, and now we hyphenate every time. Grr...
Offices that concentrate on writing and editorial matters - not just magazines, newspapers or publishing houses, either - tend to create mountains out of molehills in the search for a standard in-house style. I love the kinds of discussions that centre on apostrophe and comma use, as long as everyone also has an eye on the big picture of course - there's no sense splitting sides about split infinitives if the end-user (pc speak!) of your document couldn't care less and probably won't read half of what you're sending anyway. Better to make sure the overall writing is sound and that the document is delivered on time, rather than worrying about too many dangling hyphens.
However, I don't think incorrect grammar should be used in the quest for expediency. Case in point - a couple of years ago at my office, when we started expanding our production of reports and got a few more assistants to help with the editing of the different language versions, we ran into a problem with "check in". The hyphen goes in when it's used as an adjective (check-in counter) and comes out when it's used as a verb (the passengers check in). D'uh, right? Well, the powers that be decided that this was too difficult to remember, and now we hyphenate every time. Grr...
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