A longtime reader, Rachel, asked this question: How closely do speakers need to pay attention to grammar, word choice? I think this question is often related to another one Rachel posed about how we may shift our communication (tone, word choice, subject matter), when we are in different audiences.
Here’s my rule of thumb. When you’re speaking, you want to avoid anything that will distract people from hearing your message. Big grammatical errors and extremely casual word choice can be distracting. If you’re not sure about a word, ask a friend or colleague who knows this stuff.
In addition, it’s true that we often don’t know what we don’t know, in terms of grammatical mistakes and mispronunciations. To avoid making mistakes you have no idea are mistakes, find a way to get your audible speech “proofread.” Ask a friend to listen to you give it, or record it for them and send it.
Ask: “Hey, can you just listen for anything that’s a glaring grammar mistake, or if I pronounce any words wrong?” No shame here! Many adults learn that they’ve been mispronouncing a word their whole lives because they’ve only seen it written down. Read some common ones here:
https://bookriot.com/twords-we-mispronounce-because-weve-only-ever-read-them/
Tomorrow I’ll address the second part of Rachel’s question: How does the company we find ourselves in influence our communication style?
