Opinions on Correcting Grammar in Professional Setting?

I work for a small (5 employee) business that does commercial real estate development & investment. My position is sort of a blending of office manager/creative catchall/overall administrative person.

My boss (the President of our humble company) and I are fairly close, and I know he relies heavily upon me for many things. I know he also respects me, but he has a bit of an arrogant attitude at times.

I’m looking for a subtle, yet firm way of correcting some things he both says and writes. They all reflect poorly on the company (I think), because the company is a reflection of him, and he is such a visible part of the company.

Examples?

  • He frequently says “I could care less”. Now, I know this is a mis-speak that so many people do these days that it almost – almost doesn’t matter, but to me it DOES matter. I did jokingly jibe back at him once by saying, “you could care less? Then you already care??” but he didn’t get it, and I didn’t feel like pushing it.

  • Frequently begins sentences with the phrase “being that”. Augh! I did explain this one to him a couple of times. He explained that he really likes to begin sentences with phrases like that, so I suggested using “Considering that”, or “Given that”, and similar. Unfortunately, I am no longer the person doing the actual typing of his letters, and the new girl often lets this type of thing slip by.

  • Funky comma usage. The one that gets me is this: “I know you are smart, but, I am smarter.” or “I would change the copier, but, I don’t know how.” This one drives me particularly nuts.

Okay, now that I’ve typed this all out it doesn’t seem so bad. However, I work so hard to make sure everything the company produces has a consistent, polished, grammatically correct look and feel.

Anyone have suggestions on strongly (yet gently) correcting these types of things?

I think you’re committing professional suicide by correcting his spoken words.

If you’re the person who does the editing for written publications, then I would go ahead and provide an edited proof for him to review. If he’s got an assistant who doesn’t know proper grammar and punctuation either and she’s the one typing his letters, then you can either suggest in some fashion that you proof her work or you can just let it go. Nobody is going to blame you because the company president’s correspondence is improper.

But correcting him while he’s talking? Well, it takes balls, that’s for sure.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anything you can do about his speech. People rarely speak correctly all the time, and since he didn’t get the joke you made about his pattern of speech, I don’t think he’ll understand it unless you sit down and explain it to him in a very detailed manner, which might not reflect well upon you. I don’t think perfect speech is as important as clean, concise writing.

As for the writing, what do the rest of his letters look like (i.e., other than having phrases in there such as “Being that,”)? If that’s the only problem, he’s not doing too bad, especially for a real estate broker :)! However, if it really bugs you and (most importantly) you think that it is for the good of the company, your best bet might be having another conversation with the boss. Gently explain to him again why you think those phrases should be left out; however, if he persists in using them, it’s probably best to just drop the issue, particularly if you’ve had conversations about it before. Regardless, I wouldn’t tell his typist about the errors until you’ve talked to him unless he’s a very hands-off boss - if it’s a big bone of contention with him to have those phrases and/or extra commas in there, you and the typist could both be in hot water for changing that, unless you and your boss are really close.

On a side note, does he dictate his letters, or does he hand-write them and have his typist type them out? The “Being that” phrases are clearly attributed to your boss; however, is it possible that it’s the secretary getting the comma usage wrong? Just a thought…

As long as tha boss understands he is respected I don’t think there would be a problem with making corrections. It’s important to most bosses not to lose face, so I wouldn’t recommend public corrections.

But.

Probably, grammar doesn’t matter to him as much as the business of pushing real estate. Expressing concerns about something that “doesn’t matter” may give him the idea that you don’t think too much of HIS aspirations. Irregardless :slight_smile: of your duties, a business dude usually likes to think he is surrounded by "mini-me"s.

Better just let it go and find a way to atract tons of business.

One time, I corrected a salesman’s spelling and grammar on one of his letters and he said, “Don’t do it again. I’d rather be consistently wrong than right only some of the time.” (fucking loser) Some people just don’t give a flying fuck.

I also used to keep a usage book in my drawer. That way, you have “the rules” in black-and-white, should someone take you to task for making a correction. I used it A LOT in some jobs.

No one appreciates the grammar police.

My boss is constantly correcting the grammar of one of my coworkers. She’ll say something like, “Me and so-and-so” and before she can finish the sentence, my boss will correct her. She also corrects emails from this person. The result: my coworker dreads communicating with her.

If it would be one thing if he were subordinate to you, but he’s not. Unless he solicits your assistance, leave him alone.

The first two are hardly worth worrying about.

“Could care less” is a perfectly acceptable idiom and the fact that it isn’t logical is missing the point entirely. Idioms don’t have to be logical.

As far as “Being that” is concerned, what rule of grammar do you think he is breaking? It is somewhat overused, and the usage isn’t considered standard by some, but there is nothing grammatically wrong with it.

The comma usage you indicate is definitely wrong. But is it worth jeopardizing your job over a comma?

Thanks so much for all of your responses so far.

Yeah, I think you’re right here, and I definitely don’t have balls in situations like these. Bitching behind someone’s back on a message board is one thing…

OverlyVerbose:

He almost always handwrites his letters and gives them to the receptionist. I’ve pulled her aside a couple of times in a confidential, conspiratorial manner to point out a few grammatical twitches the boss has, but I’m afraid her own grammar isn’t that good – she’s not doing the corrections.

and

I think this sums it up nicely. I need to get a life and retire from the grammar police. I hear there’s a nice pension.

All this being said, I for one would love to see the word “misunderestimated” enter the mainstream English language. :smiley:

Not to turn this into one of “those” threads, but…Don’t forget to put in a referral for “Integritude.”