How You are Being Judged in Social Media like Twitter and Facebook
There is a couple I know - he is an etymologist and she is and entomologist. She can name all the bugs of the world, their species and genus and he can name all the latin origins of the words. And they have no friends.
In a social setting, while its is fairly boorish to correct a friend's word usage and pronunciation, it seems like it is fair game on social media to correct someone's grammar. In business, poor grammar in business writing is unacceptable yet inside a presentation the rules are somewhat flexible.
The litmus test for correcting one's own usage comes down to the "jarring" effect. Poor punctuation and grammar, misused words and convoluted structures not only stop a reader while they briefly work out intended meanings but worse, your reader is making judgments about your overall competency while reading your words. When engaging with a written document the reader is able to review your words and in a non-linear sense take in your meaning at their own rate of consumption. Here it is very important to be letter perfect and there are tasks that must be accomplished to ensure that your meaning is clear and your delivery is fluid.
Taking the time to ensure that your paragraphs are linked, that your meanings develop from start to finish, that you continue to pique the readers interest throughout the document is a function of a structural edit. Some writers seem to have a natural talent for this and can structure a document as they write. For others it is necessary to enlist another set of eyes to ensure that the intent of your message is not buried in the text but is revealed through a consistent layering of meanings to form an overall understanding of the topic.
The order of words inside sentences ought to be carefully chosen and parsed for strength of meaning and to get to the point as quickly as possible. Rereading your document to simplify and get rid of unnecessary words will help and through practice you will become adept at recognizing the excess. A good editor can also help with your sentence lengths too. Sentences of varying lengths will keep a reader interested - a regular rhythm will only put them to sleep.
Spell-check. Then read your document backwards, word for word - because your spellchecker will not distinguish between "your" and "you're".
When presenting, the rules are much simpler when it comes to language use. If your meaning is not interfered with when you make a grammatical error, move on. If it is, go back and correct.
