President of a company using incorrect grammar?

Question

Yesterday I received a one page news letter from a company of a publication that my company advertises with. I found over 20 grammatical/spelling errors in the newsletter. The scary part is the President of the company wrote the news letter and I know it was sent to all his clients.

For instance, he wrote a blurb about companies having “to many sales leads”. The use of “to” was used 11 times in this small paragraph!

Would you bring this to his attention? If so, how would you go about it?

Answer 1

You are rolling the dice here.

If I were going to talk to the company president about this, I would probably bring it to his attention by saying something like this, "I've worked here x number of years. This company is important to me and I'm committed to it's success and continued growth. Our company image is an important part of driving that success. I noticed some errors in this newsletter and I think that it might be beneficial to the company to have a professional proofreader review future articles for the newsletter prior to publishing. This is something that professional authors do all of the time. They can correct spelling and grammar errors and even offer suggestions on wordsmithing the articles to enhance them."

That would be my suggestion for the general message. \

Two things could happen. He could admit that he's not the best writer in the world and that he appreciates your suggestion and committment to the company and for bringing this to his attention. Or he could be embarressed about this and unfairly strike out at you.

Good luck.

Answer 2

You don't say what your relationship is with this publication; for example, if you're the person who actually makes the advertising decisions and have a choice about whether to advertise in his newsletter you're in a more powerful position than if you're a little lower on the totem pole and/or it's the kind of publication in which a company in your line of business simply must have some sort of representation. Also, is this your first experience of this problem? and how snitty do you want to get?

The most emotionally neutral but firm way to go about it would be to cloak your understandable rage as an act of kindness; drop him an e-mail/fax/whatever will get to his attention saying something to the effect that he must not have spotted that his firm accidentally sent out the draft publication before it had been properly proof-read and the highlighted errors corrected ... then, depending on how high you are on said totem pole, you suggest or require or demand to see a copy of the corrected version, which you are certain he'd wish to circulate as soon as possible in order to preserve his company's reputation for quality in all things.

Then go into a corner, seethe, and have fun writing a letter in your head about the quality of teaching of English grammar and syntax.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Be careful not to burn bridges! You may be looking for a job some years down the line and find out he's been hired on as a high level exec.
Chances are, many of the other readers also noticed the errors. Just file this away in your mental filing cabinet (in-case you're the one doing the hiring).
As far as your advertising dollars... that's up to you. If you pull your ads and need to explain it to someone in your company, or the newsletter's, I'd reference the grammatical mistakes ambiguiously, but don't point out that it was the President's grammatical mistakes.

Answer 4

If you work in a small firm and have a close working relationship with him - APPROACH with caution. But first be prepared to know the answer to these questions...
Did the error come from the publication company. Did the President dictate to someone else and did they make the errors?

Be careful about calling the President of your company on his grammar.

I work for the President of my company and he is very intelligent and knowledgeable of the industry that we work in...he didn't rise to the top on grammar and spelling - he rose because he knows what the heck he is doing.

The President should have competent people around him to catch those types of errors. Bringing it to his attention can help you by exposing your attention to detail or hurt you as a know it all. So be very careful...

Answer 5

If the newsletter is where you advertise, and if you are the person who decides whether or not to advertise with them yes, I would say something.

If not, I would bring it to the attention of the person whose job it is to invest in advertising. It will diminish your business when the advertiser is of poor quality.

If the above are correct, I would mention that you had noticed an unusual number of spelling mistakes in the publication, and that the poor quality may prevent your advertising to be considered by potential customers, and that if it continues, you may stop advertising with him.

I am the same way about spelling errors....when I find them in the phone book or especially in newspapers, I am absolutely astounded. People make mistakes....but they shouldn't be in journalism if they are going to slaughter the English language.

My husband is from another country, and his written grammar is so terrible, he not only slaughters English, but also his own native language. However, he doesn't make money based on his literary capabilities, so it is isn't as important.

Answer 6

You've got to realize that hardly any president of a company types his/her own newsletters anymore. I'd contact his secretary and ask her if she knows who sent the missive. If she did it, leave it alone- apparently she was hired for other attributes... ;) If someone else sent out the newsletter, bring the errors to her attention so she can constructively criticize at her discretion.

Answer 7

It is amazing that people use grammar so incorrectly now-a-days! I find it several times over on this site alone. It would not suprise me that someone would misuse the terms to;too who;whom their;there;they're. People also use a lot of apostrophes where they don't belong.

Anyhow, the reason that people have poor grammar is because it really wasn't focused on during their education. People don't care whether or not they have poor grammar, they just care that the point gets across... which I think is stupid (for a lack of better terms).

Would I bring this to his attention? No. Would I bring it to the attention of his assistant? Maybe. S/he (I meant to do that) doesn't run anything, and she doesn't want the boss to look stupid.

It amazes me that people think spell check catches everything. It doesn't catch poor grammar.

Answer 8

Does he not know how to use spell and grammar check?
I would make a copy, put all the corrections in red. And mail it. But do not put a return address or your name any where. Maybe he will wise up.
Or maybe he dictated and had his secretary or receptionist type it up. Either way I would send the corrected letter.

Answer 9

Many company heads and CEOs have poor grammar ... as the CFO, I rewrite / edit all public documentation written by the CEO. Perhaps you could ask the CFO to speak about this in private.

Answer 10

Grammar and spelling seem to have gone out the window these last few years. Sadly, I think the Internet and IM are the major causes.