Writing - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

This was actually e-mailed to me one day:

"output voltage 0 to 240 vac at 25 khz ,45 amps ,  in put voltage 208 ,240 , 460  60 hz.single 0r three phase.most likely three phase except when supply is used at reduced power. regulation should not be an issue since it will have dc feedback.pot. controlled voltage ramp up would be nice overcurrent and overvoltage trip would be good but i can add that if need be.what i basically need is an inverter.output waveform ,i was wondering what are the other manufacturers doing,i was thinking of a sawtooth. the sharp drop to zero would help the reverse recovery time of the diodes?what do you think.the faster the diodes the higher the cost.chat back larry. "

I havn't changed anything. Every last ASCII character is exactly as it came and so the sad question here is: "Wha' hoppen???????"

Still, as extreme as this writing is, there are lots of lesser examples of the same thing all around us:

There are several signs posted on the local supermarket to tell truckers: "No Idleing".

There is a garden supply store a short distance from here that had a sign: "Sale! Lawn Mower's"

I saw a sign on the parkway: "This bridge under rehabilitation." Bridges are supposed to get renovation or did this one somehow get drunk too often?

I detect in some people an attitude that says these errors don't matter because you get the idea, don't you? You get the gist of if, right?

What I get is frightened.

Comments

[Jim Anderson]

Hi John,

I know exactly what you are writing about. I am an engineer and not an English major. It is a rarity to pick up a magazine or newspaper where the spelling and grammar errors don't jump out at me. Emails are the worst. Many people either don't turn on the spelling check feature or they don't bother to look at the message before they send it. I often wonder how they can keep their jobs if they write that way at work. Texting is making things even worse. Of course I realize that it is difficult to worry about spelling when you are trying to text and drive your car at the same time.

[Elizabeth Danziger]

As a writing trainer and consultant, I see many examples of egregious writing. Especially with so many people using email, writing is even more a crucial job skill now than in the past. If people want to receive free monthly writing tips, they can sign up for Writamins at www.worktalk.com.

[William Ketel]

I agree that there are a whole lot of people who do not come across as well educated because they write in an illiterate manner. Some portion of the blame can be dumped on the schools that they attended, since it seems that the schools found that it was more important to teach other things. I have found that my writing skills have been of great value to my employers, since I have written a large number of technical proposals and successful sales letters. Clear writing is quite a valuable skill, but it demands clear thinking to produce clear writing, and it appears that a great many folks are totally fogbound. Spell-check and even grammar checking utilities can help, but they are not enough to bring about good writing.