Rather sensibly one company examined 4,000 emails originating from their staff. In that number they found misspelled words in 486 of them and counted grammatical errors in 544 of them. That’s over a quarter of communication containing some kind of error.

That’s quite something, isn’t it? In these days when so much business is done using the written word, people are willing to send a document that they haven’t so much as spell checked (incredible when it’s just the click of an icon) or even re-read what they’ve composed.

Of course, human error is hardly something I can get all bent up about, but when I get an email that is barely legible because it lacks punctuation, grammar – or worse, doesn’t capitalise I – I get in quite a pickle. I, for one, could not part with my trust, money or time for someone who can’t even be bothered to hit the shift key once in a while.

How hard is it to do a bit of studying to fill in those gaps in education? Even take a class in writing? Failing that, the very least you can do is acknowledge that accurate writing is a weak area for you and ask someone to proofread or edit it before you send it: a colleague or a friend if they have time, if not retain an editor for your important communications.

*stepping off the soapbox and taking a few deep breaths!

What are the most remarkable emails you’ve received? What really winds you up when you see it in a mail?  Have you seen any truly hilarious ones? Do share!