E-MAILS and texts may have made it possible to communicate in seconds, but millions of adults cannot write a sentence without making simple mistakes, according to a study.
Researchers found the commonest failing was leaving out the words "be", "have", "do", "in", "and", "on" and "at" – with 27 per cent of writers omitting them.
The next most common omission was punctuation, with 24.3 per cent failing to use questio
n marks, full stops or commas in the right place.
A team of linguists who examined 5,000 documents by 1,000 people found 85 per cent contained one or more errors.
However, despite these poor results, nearly half the survey participants, aged 18 to 80, thought good grammar and spelling were important.
Amit Greener, of WhiteSmoke, the grammar and writing firm that did the research, released yesterday, said: "The poor quality of writing today is a worrying phenomenon. However, it is encouraging to know that, despite getting basic sentences wrong, the majority of survey participants regard quality writing as important to them."
One in five respondents said they paid less attention when writing to friends and family, while 50 per cent took time to check their writing before sending it to their bosses.
Last night, business leaders and academics said that, while methods of communication had changed radically, literacy skills were essential for career progression.
David Lonsdale, the assistant director of the CBI in Scotland, said: "The world is changing and we are all expected to use new ways of communication. But writing letters and reports are the fundamentals of the job.
"Enhancing the skills of the future working population must be a priority for government. Too many potential recruits have poor literacy, numeracy and employability skills."
Professor Bart McGettrick, former dean of faculty, department of English at the University of Glasgow, said: "If the whole purpose of writing is just 'communication' in the broadest sense that is understandable. But I would like to think people could write an accurate letter or document if applying for a job. Otherwise it doesn't reflect well when a degree of formality is required."
He said the changes in writing ability were not a reflection of the innovative teaching methods that began to be used in primary schools from the 1960s.
"The loss of writing ability is to do with technology, but there is no going back. The world only spins in one direction. What we ought to be doing is making sure people know the right register – that is form of address – to use in each form of communication."
The full article contains 438 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
