Which errors really matter?

1. Which errors really matter? • Maxine Hairston (1981) surveyed teachers and businesspeople and found that they noticed writing errors more than she had expected. They considered some errors to be • • Status-marking (outrageous) • • Mechanical mistakes (serious) • • Noticeable (annoying, but not serious)

2. Directions: Correct the errors in these sentences. Then categorize them as • • Status-marking (outrageous) • • Mechanical mistakes (serious) • • Noticeable (annoying) • The teacher said I done a good job on the editing test. • We can get extra help in the ASC, but I don’t need none of that. • Although some people do. • Me and my friends write our papers the night before they’re due. • As far as i’m concerned, losing a little sleep is no big deal.

3. Corrections Hairston’s respondents considered all of these errors to be status-marking, or outrageous. • The teacher said I done a good job on the editing test. (wrong verb tense) 2. We can get extra help in the ASC, but I don’t need none of that. (double negative) 3. Although some people do what?(fragment) 4. Meand my friends write our papers the night before they’re due. (object used as subject) 5. As far as i’m concerned, losing a little sleep is no big deal. (capitalization)

4. Directions: Correct the errors in these sentences. Then categorize them as • • Status-marking (outrageous) • • Mechanical mistakes (serious) • • Noticeable (annoying) 6. My friend Shan, always does at least a rough draft and a revised draft. • I’m trying to decide whether to go into criminal justice, study business management, or paralegal. • Any one of these programs are a good choice for me. • If I do good in my classes, my chances of getting a good job will increase. 10. Our textbook is heavy, so I am glad to sit it down when I get to class.

5. Corrections Hairston’s respondents considered these errors to be serious. • 6. My friend Shan, always does at least a rough draft and a revised draft. (appositive) 7. I’m trying to decide whether to go into criminal justice, study business management, or paralegal. (parallelism) 8. Any one of these programs are a good choice for me. (subject-verb agreement) 9. If I do good in my classes, my chances of getting a good job will increase. (adverb, not adj.) 10. Our textbook is heavy, so I am glad to sit it down when I get to class. (sit vs. set)

6. Are the findings still valid? • The original study was done in 1981. • Hairston, M. (1981). Not all errors are created equal: Nonacademic readers in the professions respond to lapses in usage. College English, 43, 794-806.

7. At least three studies have validated it. • One found that women are more irritated by errors than men are (Kantz & Yates, 1994). • Kantz, M., & Yates, R. (1994). Whose judgments? A survey of faculty responses to common and highly irritating writing errors. Retrieved July 19, 2006,from http://www.ateg.org/conferences/c5/kantz.htm

8. Students in a linguistics class duplicated Hairston’s study and confirmed her findings (“Usage Matters,” 1999). • Usage matters: A comparative study of judgments of English usage errors. (1999, June 7). Retrieved July 19, 2006, from English department Web site, California Polytechnic State University: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/390/survey/390.RESULTS.html

9. Connors and Lunsford (1986) found “in contrast to the popular picture of English teachers mad to mark up every error, our results show that even the most-often marked errors are only marked two-thirds of the time.” • Connors, A., & Lunsford, R.(1986). Frequency of formal errors in current college writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle do research.College Composition and Communication, 39, 395–409, Retrieved July 19, 2006, from http://www.english.lsu.edu/ dept/programs/ugrad/firstyear/articles/makettle.pdf