Hi Donna, If I read a sales letter that's filled with mistakes, I just stop reading and trash it. I won't buy from anyone who cares so little about me that they completely mangle the language they're using to try to win me over. God bless, Dave

Hi Arthur, It is a terrible shame the way our language has devolved, and the modern school system is not helping. All our children have been home-schooled and are FAR ahead of their contemporaries in their language skills. When I correct their papers, I am quite merciless in pointing out their errors (not unkind toward them - just toward their work!) The result has been that my children can express themselves well with the written word. Sometimes I have been quite pleasantly surprised with their ability as they've progressed over the years. In contrast, I remember having several of their cousins of similar age over when they were learning to read and write. Their spelling and reading abilities were absolutely atrocious! Apparently our wonderful education system had decided that the "whole language" approach to learning to read and write was better (even though it had already been scrapped in Europe). Under the whole language system, the theory is that if you throw enough reading at kids, they'll figure out what some of the words mean and guess at the rest. Perhaps the perpetrators of this system were Tarzan fans when they were young... Anyway, the system was an abysmal failure. It produced thousands of young people without the ability to fill out basic application forms. As such, we are now seeing the beginning of a terrible unemployment problem. It's not that there aren't enough jobs to go around; instead it's that there aren't enough employable people around! Arthur, you mention that the best English is coming from countries where English is a second language. I agree 100%. It is a fact I've discovered while conversing in forums online, that some of the best written English composed today is from India and Iraq! What is our excuse? Perhaps we can get some good teachers from those countries! God bless, Dave

Hi Anthony, I can certainly understand where you're coming from and I believe Gary and Leanne can, too, as we are from Canada and Australia, where the "Queen's English" is still used. When I am writing to someone online, I try to make sure I know where they live and write accordingly. Honour or honor? Center or centre? There are a lot of examples like these. Just remember that when you're working in computer languages like html or javascript, it's all American. Just think of your computer and website as a couple of your American friends and you'll be fine. :-D God bless, Dave

Hi Leanne, It really makes you wonder if the website is from one of those Nigerian Scammers when the grammar and spelling is so bad! You're welcome to post the link. God bless, Dave

Hi Tanya, If there's a plus side to the modern language plague, it's that when you receive a lot of job applications, it's becoming a lot easier to narrow down the list. You can probably easily throw out 95% of them or more by throwing out every application filled with spelling and grammatical errors. Your daughter is going to thank you one day. It is my passionate belief that if the only thing you learn in 12 years of schooling is how to read and write well, you can do anything you want to. God bless, Dave