Now I know what you're thinking, you're not a writer. Neither am I. But writing just so happens to be a part of our daily working lives whether we like it or not (in the form of emails etc.) and bad writing, as innocuous as it may seem, can have a very negative affect on how your communication is treated.
Lack of capital letters, punctuation and bad spelling are all examples of sloppy writing.
Have a look at the following email sent to Suzanne Lucas of Carnival of HR which she says embodies some of the characteristics of bad writing (read her article here):
"in my life ive only had one job. that job was th at i was manager of a small business owned by my parents. does that count as experience. lets say i apply for a job as an hr assistantwould a job working as a manager/cashier for my parents be considered relevant experience."
She says while this email is only a request for information, and not something more serious like a follow up on a job application or a message to the manager, it displays the lazy, sloppy style we have become far too used to using in our everyday writing.
Do you treat badly written emails differently to professional ones? Join the conversation on Facebook and have your say.
Or learn more about our Business Writing Skills course.