In a recent Yahoo News article, James J. Kilpatrick discussed the question “Why do we study grammar?” and that got me thinking. The reason I studied grammar was a). because the nuns forced me, and b). because it’s one of the most valuable tools any writer can have. In fact, it’s a necessity for writers and anyone in business who does any amount of writing.

Think of the times you received a piece of written work – an email or a letter – and it had grammar mistakes in it. Like “Its Friday today” or “Johns’ book”. Here’s what I believe our thought process is:

1. You’re reading the document and focusing on it
2. You encounter the error and spend time to mentally fix it
3. You dwell on the writer’s lack of grammar skills

The end result? You’re defocused!

So eliminating grammar errors is critical for not only getting our message across but also for getting the right response to our correspondence.

The obvious conclusion is to improve your grammar skills but that’s easier said than done. English grammar is pretty complex and not learned in a couple of sittings.

If you’ve tried Microsoft Word’s grammar checker you know how weak it is. In fact, I think it’s responsible for giving grammar checkers a bad name. There are some good ones out there worth looking at, notably WhiteSmoke grammar checker and StyleWriter.

White Smoke compares well with Microsoft Word and is by far one of the most in depth and thorough grammar checkers.

So call WhiteSmoke grammar checker a crutch, but to me it’s a smart move, and a small price to pay for ensuring my grammar is good. Keep in mind that grammar checkers will never be 100% perfect, but they do a good job of catching the majority of errors and will improve your writing.