I (still) love the English language.

Is AI helping or hindering our writing?

As a creative, I enjoy playing with words. I adore finding dual meanings and writing copy to engage readers. Words can be inspirational, empowering, destructive, hurtful... language offers great freedom, but comes with great responsibility.

When I first posted about the use and misuse of words, I caused some upset. Back then I expressed my disdain for the mistakes I saw in social media and wrote how “I wince every time someone claims they’re “defiantly” undertaking something”. I failed to consider neurodivergence and couldn’t understand why anyone would publish something with mistakes in it. Now I understand that perfect grammar shouldn’t be the enabler of somebody’s voice – everyone is entitled to their opinions, and social media has opened the door to expressing them all – in the main, that’s a good thing.

My observations were born from my job role; I regularly proof-read and hunt down incorrect use of apostrophes and poor grammar. At We Are Acuity, we commission copy writers who are masters of our language, we also write in-house and take responsibility for correct spelling, suitable tone and ensuring our copy follows the accepted rules. We all make mistakes, but we have processes in place to limit such errors.

 
In my mind, the correct use of punctuation, exemplary spelling and well-structured sentences is still hugely important. In English, punctuation can change entire meanings: "No! Don't! Stop!" vs "No, don't stop." There are many hilarious examples of bad English out there:

Poor grammar and spelling are also red flags for dubious emails – if only scammers spell-checked their work, I'm sure they'd be more successful in their underhand activity. But it goes to show how errors promote mistrust.

Yet I still notice so many mistakes from professionals which I can't fathom – how can journalists publish their work littered with mistakes – only yesterday I read the same sentence twice in an article – where's the care?

In the advertising and marketing arena, correctness is critical. Surveys suggest poor grammar and spelling affects sales – a 2017 Survey Monkey poll found that women are 81% less likely to buy a product advertised with errors, while 77% of men feel the same.

The importance of good grammar isn’t restricted to advertising; the same survey found that 86% of potential employers would be less likely to hire someone with ‘typos’ in their CV.

Thankfully, today there are lots of excellent resources available to help. Grammarly plug-ins, Microsoft Word and AI platforms all give excellent steers when it comes to writing. Granted, ChatGPT overuses em dashes but they’re more acceptable to me than glaring spelling mistakes or repeated sentences. You’re welcome to check out my blog on the differences between hyphens, en and em dashes. So, while many bemoan ChatGTP and the like for generating bland and formulaic content, it’s incredibly useful for spell-checking and suggesting grammar tweaks (it’s super-quick at it too).