Grammar Journal: Contraction’s and customers’
Week of June 22, 2009–
English is one of the hardest languages in the world to master.
It doesn’t make the standard Top Ten Most Difficult lists (which include the usual suspects Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian) because of its relative accessibility for first-time learners. It’s near impossible, however, to master.
This is because:
- – We have tons of grammatical exceptions.
- – At least in the U.S., we don’t really care about perfection.
To me, English language mastery means:
- – In speaking: being able to tell jokes based on homonyms
- – In writing: getting it right with contractions
Now, who cares about getting it right with contractions and other minor spelling and grammar stuff? If people get what you’re trying to say, why does it matter if you know the difference between [its] and [it's]?
Yesterday, I received a postcard advertising a luxury Alaskan cruise in the mail. Everything about it said “fancy!” - from the photo montage of gourmet dinners, spa rooms, and majestic glaciers, to the award logos printed all over it. I’m not a cruise person, but it nonetheless got me thinking about the possibility of an Alaskan vacation, until…
“Amazing Alaska, few places anywhere in the world can match it’s splendor.”
FYI, postcard people -
[it's] is a contraction of the two words [it] and [is]
[its] is the possessive form of the pronoun [it] that you’re looking for
Here’s why contractions are so important to converting those discerning customers:
- It’s rarely a typo when you use [you're] instead of [your] or [it's] instead of [its]. You just don’t know the language rules
- Since it’s not a typo, it doesn’t so much show carelessness as it reveals ineptitude
- I’m not going to trust a company with my vacation, my safety, and thousands of my dollars that can’t get the basics right
Note to self:
If I’m ever in a position to spend tens of thousands of dollars on marketing campaigns targeting customers’ mailboxes, inboxes, and Facebook profiles, make sure to edit for ineptitude.
