Those who can, spell. Those who can’t, correct grammar. I tend to fall firmly in that second column. After all, spell check can make sure my typos are gone, but it’s not going to tell me if I’ve used the word “whom” incorrectly.
Which is why this article about 20 common grammar mistakes over at LitReactor made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Granted, a lot of these are things anyone who has graduated elementary school should know, and are less about grammar per se than about proper word choice, but they’re still excellent points.
More interesting is the fact that an editor has to deal with all of these so often. You’d think that professional writers would know the difference between “then” and “than”, and even “who” and “whom”, by now. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, given some of the blogs out there. I think one day soon we will have to have a post listing the top 10 worst corporate blogs. Stay tuned.