Do you right or write good item descriptions?

All through high school and college the logic of math defeated me. I therefore hung onto language arts, the steadfast and tangible meanings of words.  I was an English major in high school and college and after spending three years in Europe, I learned to speak both French and German. My love of words  spread to the language of medicine and as a certified medical transcriptionist for the past thirty years, I have taught transcription, worked as a transcriptionist, edited medical papers for publication in leading medical journals, transcribed and edited five books on the use homeopathic medicine in dentistry. When teaching transcription, I stressed how important it was for each student to not just rely on the spell check application of their word processing programs. Why? Generally speaking, spell check  applications are not set up to distinguish between the use of similar sounding words with different spellings.  For example, a spell check application cannot detect whether or not the writer (you) meant to use the word to, too or two.

Choosing the correct word and spelling is especially important when writing descriptions for your item listings. I constantly see misuse of words and wonder why the seller did not take the time to ensure (not insure) the words and grammar used in descriptions were correct. I shudder (not shutter) when I see a listing for an expensive item that is full of grammar and spelling errors.

Are you always sure that you have made the proper distinction between possibly  confusing words in each of your item descriptions? If not, you might want to check (not cheque) them. There are distinct differences between the word bored and board; advice and advise; breath and breathe; capital and capitol; dessert and desert, formally and formerly; loan and lone; write and right, weather and whether. In this writer’s opinion, caring about your language is just as important as clear images, a good price and stellar customer service.  Put all together each of these elements reflect positively (or not) on you as a seller.

Addendum:  I have several publications for medical transcriptionists. One of my Word Finder Series publications, the Grammar and Style sheets includes pages of confusing words, the proper use of articles, recognized State two letter abbreviations, commonly recognized English abbreviations and lots more. If you are interested, check out my listings for Word Finder Series sets on Addoway http://www.addoway.com/viewad/Medical-Transcription-Grammar-Sheet-Set-Laminated-581500