A Brief Note on How Writing Errors are Judged

Abstract

A brief business letter was written, then ten versions were madeup—each having from four to twenty-nine errors systematically introduced. Three hundred students read one version of the letter, then answered questions about the letter's contents and judged the “author” (is he intelligent, a good writer, etc.). The results pointed to misspelling as the most often noticed class of errors. Readers judged the author most harshly when spelling errors were present, but did not reach the same conclusion in the face of errors of syntax or punctuation. Finally, people labeled all classes of errors “misspelling,” and did not identify syntactic problems.