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Libby Silverson
Mrs. King
English 9
27 February 2015

Grammar, Its Important

Every day thousands of people misuse commas, semi colons, and apostrophes
with no idea what harm they are causing. The ratio of modern students to Grammar
Nazis is greatly unbalanced and is leading the world into a spiraling pit of misspellings
and run on sentences. Most students don't see the problem with less grammar in
schools and often enjoy the lack of spelling quizzes and sentence structure tests!
Grammar is not only important in excelling in the work and academic world, but it is also
essential for everyday use.
Big bosses of companies want to hire the best people for their work force, and if
applicants dont know the difference between its and its they will not even consider their
resume. CEO of iFixit, Kyle Wiens, states, If you think an apostrophe is one of the 12
disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me (I Wont Hire People Who Use Poor
Grammar. Heres Why. 1). Even basic grammar rules such as commas and apostrophes
can affect whether or not someone gets a job. Think grammar is only important to jobs
in the writing field? Think again. Ive found that people who make fewer mistakes on a
grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely
unrelated to writing- like stocking shelves or labeling parts (Wiens 10). Wiens believes
that attention to grammar also shows attention to detail. Even
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basic jobs such as stocking shelves can be related back to grammar usage. So yes, an
employee who can write properly is far more valuable and promotable than one whose

ambiguous text is likely to create confusion, legal liability and embarrassment

(Rushkoff 5). With poor grammar skills getting a job will be hard and trying to keep it
after that will be even harder.
Schools all over the country give standardized tests to all of their students, there
is no way around them. Colleges weigh these test scores heavily when deciding
whether or not to accept applicants for their school, and if they can't pass these exams
they can't get into college. The ACT test is given to high school Juniors throughout the
United States, this test alone is 53% grammar! Thats enough to determine a pass from
a fail. Author Lynne Truss explains, Kids at fee-paying schools are likely to be given a
pretty good grounding in the mechanics of language, while the others are largely taught
that grammar is unimportant compared with expressing yourself. This makes me
crazy. Imagine its the piano we are talking about. Which would be better: a) to express
yourself freely on it; or b) first learn to play the thing? (The Harm When Schools Play
Down Grammar 1). Many modern schools and students dont see the harm in playing
down grammar but it comes back to bite them in the end. Colleges all over the country
look for good applicants who are educated all around. Just because students may
choose not to major in English doesn't mean that those skills don't count. It's not just
anecdotal: In a 2011 survey of corporate recruiters by the Graduate Management
Admission Council, the organization that administers the standardized test for business
school, 86 percent said strong

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communication skills were a priority (Holland 12). In the end, its better to know
grammar skills; winging it on the ACT could lead to frying it at McDonalds.
Grammar is extremely essential for everyday use. After all, theres no auto
correct for the human brain! CEO Kyle Wiens boasts,In blog posts, on Facebook

statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a
projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if
you cant tell the difference between their, there, and theyre (I Wont Hire People Who
Use Poor Grammar. Heres Why. 6). As technology grows some people believe that
spell check is replacing the need to know grammar rules. However, they couldn't be
more wrong. Technology can not solve all the worlds literary problems! Spell check
often makes mistakes that if not caught by the editor can make anyone look like a fool.
For example, how many times has somebody sent there instead of theyre while
texting? Posted Im instead of Im on Instagram? How well does spell check really
correct absurd comma use? The truth is nobody knows, unless they know grammar. By
using correct grammar skills everyone can catch errors that technology programs
cannot.
Even though technology is editing our papers, it can not edit our brain, ACT, or
job resume to the point of perfection all by itself. The next time you blow off a grammar
lesson think of all the negative effects you are bringing on yourself and the world.
Whenever a person forgets to use grammar there is one more painfully errored post
on the web, one more misusage of were in the world, and one more failed attempt to
get grammar right. Think before you write, or else you could end up flipping burgers for
my franchise.

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Works Cited
Holland, Kelley. Why Johnny cant write, and why employers are mad. CNBC. CNBC,
11 Nov. 13. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Truss, Lynne. The Harm When Schools Play Down Grammar. The New York Times.
The New
York Times, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Wiens, Kyle. I wont Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Heres Why. Harvard
Business
Review. Harvard Business Publisher, 20 July 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.