Can Bad Grammar Affect Your Salary?

Are you ready to take it to the next level at your job, but you’re unsure where to begin? If you want to advance your career, it can be as simple as changing how you write. You can spend some additional time crafting grammatically accurate sentences and proofreading what you write. You can start by working on your weaknesses.  

The truth is bad grammar can affect your long-term salary and your chances of getting promoted.  

How essential are small grammatical and punctuation errors? People who use appropriate grammar develop further and quicker in their professions.  Studies have shown that people with good grammar, on average, earn a better salary than those who don’t. 

People with low grammatical abilities are unlikely to succeed. When you write, it gives an insight into your thoughts, skills, and attention to detail. At a job, it’s common to send emails, create memos, or draft presentations. You’d be surprised how grammar can affect your career development.  

Would you hire someone who couldn’t write well? You may say that it depends on the job. Unfortunately, most jobs today, including entry-level positions, require a basic foundation of core skills such as reading, writing, and math.  

Those who did not advance to the director level in their first 10 years of employment produced 2.5 times as many grammatical errors as those with director-level positions or higher.

There are a few reasons why the proper use of grammar is associated with greater career success.  

1. Proofreading Your Work Shows Attention to Detail
2. Proper Grammar Skills Indicate a Greater Level of Education
3. There Are No Excuses 
4. Final Thoughts 

Let’s review! 

Proofreading Your Work Shows Attention to Detail

The first reason why the proper use of grammar is associated with greater career success is that it takes effort. Taking the effort to properly construct sentences and check your work demonstrates attention to detail. People who are concerned about creating high-quality, error-free work are more likely to get promoted than those who are not.

Proper Grammar Skills Indicate a Greater Level of Education 

Education is valuable. Despite changes in the job market, education plays a role in career advancement opportunities. The usage of proper grammar can often be an indication that someone has a greater level of education, which in many fields still coincides with higher positions.

This is not to say that you need to have a high level of education to improve your grammar. Nevertheless, there is a correlation between grammar, education, and career success. These elements of success and achievement are intertwined. 

There Are No Excuses for Bad Grammar

There are tools available everywhere. You may argue that you can’t learn how to write using proper grammar because of teaching methods. Unfortunately, that is no longer true.  Whether you are a visual learner or a self-learner, there is an option available to you.  

There's no justification for some of the classic grammatical blunders nowadays, with style guidelines, dictionaries, visual grammar books, and a plethora of grammar-related websites easily available online. Look it up if you're not sure whether to use "affect" or "effect," "who" "whom," or "fewer" or "less."

Final Thoughts 

You can advance your career with simple changes to your routine. If you think writing is a weakness of yours, try learning basic grammar.

What are your thoughts? Do you have a language use blunder that drives you insane? Is it fair that people with stronger grammatical skills progress at work more quickly? Please let us know what you think.