Good Grammar Gets the Girl by Elissa Englund

Jamielle Silvia

ENGL 0250-154

H. Susi

October 22, 2011

Good Grammar Gets the Girl by Elissa Englund

            Elissa Englund’s essay Good Grammar Gets the Girl is about her becoming part of an online dating site and how unattractive it is when men use bad grammar. She gives several examples of the grammar errors she has seen. She also discovered that many people make spelling errors when trying to express themselves through writing or e-mails. Englund was interested in this guy named Craig and became completely turn off by his spelling errors and choices of words. Grammar errors can change someone’s first impressions of you and make you seem unappealing.

            Englund states, “Many first impressions are based solely on how you express yourself through the English language.” I agree with this completely. I get so turned off when people make careless and lazy mistakes while writing. In my opinion I would rather have an intelligent conversation with someone, rather than talk to someone who writes like they are in middle school. I believe that first impressions are based on how well you can communicate through English language because it does become very ugly when you do not make sense.

            Many people now are meeting and dating over the internet. The internet has grown enormously over the years and meeting someone online is becoming more popular. To be completely honest I met my girlfriend over the internet. Her first words and the way she typed were very important to me because it gave me a sense of who I was talking to. She sounded very intelligent with the words she used and thankfully she was very smart. So from my own experience her first words were crucial because they could have been her last depending on my impression on her.

            Using good grammar is important for all aspects of life like reading, writing, and even speaking. When reading grammar you want to be able to understand what you are reading. While writing you want to make sure other people can read and understand the point you are trying to make. Lastly speaking in front of people you want to make sense and sound intelligent and confident that you can make you point clear. I feel that this class has already taught me to become a better writer and the little grammatical errors people make on a daily basis.

            Reading this article helped me realize how important grammar can be and ways to prevent making a grammatical error. This article also explains the importance of re-reading your essays, e-mails, or letters because usually you notice a grammar error after reading it over. I never used to read my work over because I was lazy, but as I grew older I noticed the importance of grammar. Englund also made up rules that will help anyone who are making little mistakes and need rules to look back on.