Is it just me, or is the ability for people to communicate effectively declining? The more websites I visit, the more I am convinced that people do not care about their grammar, or they do not know how to speak properly. This is not limited to the average blog; I am finding errors on major websites. I will leave their names out to protect the guilty.

Remember when media companies had publishers and editors? Companies used to get embarrassed when there was a typo, let alone multiple errors in the same article. Perhaps it is a result of our global reach and authors speaking English as a second language. Maybe we are too reliant on software to catch our mistakes. I know that I rely very heavily on spell check and I have recently started using the grammar check in Microsoft Word.

Did you know there are settings in MS Word that can change how the software assists you with your text? I found settings in MS Word 2013 and these same settings are likely in earlier versions as well. If you click on File –> Options –> Proofing you will see the spelling and grammar settings.

By default, the writing style is set to grammar only. I changed it to grammar and style and adjusted the settings for the writing style. There are many options. I encourage you to make some adjustments and see if you can use the suggestions to improve your writing.