In my opinion, what matters in not so much that a writer have the skills to explain or teach the why, when, and wherefore of every punctuation mark and structure. But a quality product is a quality product. In the world of writing, that means clear communication. In the end, that is why we have all those rules, right?

I just go with the flow and always have books open to make sure I’m not mixing the guides up.

I still remember reading a book once on grammar that said one of the world’s biggest grammar goofs comes from the phrase “just deserts.” I happened to catch this right after watching a television show on lousy television pilots and one of them the show was called “Just Deserts” and NBC railed them for not even being able to spell correctly.

Deserts is derived from the word Deserves – so it is incorrect to say Just Desserts. I ended up going onto NBC’s forums and pointing out that they were in fact wrong and one of the upper level execs e-mailed me back stating they’d never heard such a thing and were shocked they were in fact wrong.

Since then, I remain open to learning as much as I can about grammar.

As for me, I know when something is grammatically incorrect , but I don’t know the terms to explain it. I usually go to a writer friend for advice.

However, I do agree with Angela, what is up with the media. Even if they are hiring interns they should work a little harder to get it right. Isn’t it the big leagues for journalists?

That was a joke. The point is that you must be a total expert if you want to be a good writer. Otherwise, you come across as less than perfect. When we have the luxury of spell-check and revision, there is no excuse for something less than perfect.

1. If writers needed to be perfect at grammar, usage, style, and punctuation, there would be no such things as editors. Your job is to be creative, informative, and readable. Ours is to apply the final polish so your message gets through as clearly as possible to every reader. I can’t do your job very well, and I sure don’t expect you to do mine. Heck, there are non-native speakers of English who can hardly put an English sentence together who have expertise worth writing about. (Of course, they don’t usually try to make a living as writers.)

2. The “rule” about not ending sentences with prepositions is one of the most-quoted when talking about grammar. The thing is, it’s not really a rule anymore. Most reputable style guides say that ending a sentence with a preposition is often preferable in terms of clarity and elegance. The same goes for split infinitives.

3. Using the AP style guide is a great idea. The Chicago Manual of Style is also a great resource, depending on your genre. I wouldn’t use The Elements of Style because it is far from comprehensive and far from accurate. Strunk and White break their own “rules” left and right in it.

4. Those of you who have said you have an ear for grammar are right; there are few “mistakes” in any of the comments. I firmly believe that everyone who has posted so far, including the opening post, has enough grasp of grammar to make a go of it in the writing field.

You have to be a grammar god.

I actually have a section of my personal blog that is entirely devoted to grammar mistakes on major websites like MSNBC. This week they got the headline in one of their top stories wrong. It was changed, but what kind of editorial department lets that one ride? Seriously. You can’t tell me that MSNBC writers, web content or otherwise, aren’t paid well enough to care. I’m sure that they make a lot more than I do.

I have made mistakes in the past, I am not perfect. I will own up to them and send a corrected copy without prompting if I notice it after the fact. The truth of the matter is that any grammar or spelling mistake makes you look unprofessional and sloppy and the client will notice in most cases. They will also probably not call you again or go lukewarm towards you over other writers. Frankly, I don’t disagree. As a writer your entire craft is about knowing your words and where to place them. If you don’t know grammar or couldn’t be bothered with a spell checker you shouldn’t be pursuing writing as a career.

I don’t mean to sound harsh but I have seen so many websites (as I am sure you all have) with atrocious writing on them that I have to believe someone, somewhere is selling writing services without knowing the English language. I am sure that members of this community are not among them but that is my opinion.

Am I the only one, or does anyone else here have “aha! moments” days after writing a blog post (or whatever it is) and will go back to correct the grammar mistake?