Issue 105 - 29th June - 27th July
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The findings are based on WhiteSmoke’s survey of 5,000 pages of business writing texts. “The most prevalent error type has turned out to be ‘missing words,’ with 32% of writers failing to use all the words needed for a grammatically correct sentence. Words most likely to be missed are verb auxiliaries (be, have, do), prepositions (in, on, at) and determiners (a, an, the, this), and missing nouns. For example, ‘I would happy to meet you’ instead of ‘I would be happy to meet you,’” says Liran Brenner, the Vice President of R&D.
Further data from WhiteSmoke shows that 28% of mistakes relate to punctuation, that is, knowing when to use a full stop, comma or question mark. Agreement between sentence elements comes up next in 8% of the data, for instance, “One of the guy turned around” instead of “One of the guys turned around.” More problem areas are spelling, using the wrong word, repeating words and misusing verb tenses.
Brenner explains, “The types of errors people typically make when they write business documents help guide our Natural Language Processing experts in directing their efforts to improve our grammar engine. This allows us to develop solutions that meet the specific needs of our customers.” WhiteSmoke endeavors to constantly improve the software’s features and context-based error detection abilities in order to eliminate common—corporate image tarnishing – mistakes from e-mails, letters, memos and even PowerPoint presentations.
Vice President of Marketing & Sales Amit Greener adds, “The tremendous effort we put into R&D results in improvements targeted at our customers’ needs, showing that WhiteSmoke provides real solutions to real problems.” He also maintains, “As part of raising the writing standards in organizations, every e-mail or memo sent by a staff member should be proofed beforehand. Correct language shows customers and colleagues that you value them.”
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