Question

How do grammatical errors act as barriers in communication?

Answer 1

Spelling mistakes are misspelt words such as “howse” instead of “house”. Grammar mistakes are missing punctuation such as not putting a full stop at the end of a sentence and using a comma where a semi-colon should have been used. Grammar mistakes are also miss use of words such as “their” and “there”. Both sound the same but are used in different contexts.Grammar mistakes can be communication barriers. For example, if an employee at Apple was sent a letter from their boss instructing them to “Fill out the forms under no circumstances put the forms in the bin.” he wouldn’t know what to do. This is because if you use punctuation the letter reads two different ways. If you included a comma after “forms” the letter would read, “Fill out the forms, under no circumstances put the forms in the bin.” This is instructing and employee to fill out the forms and not put them in the bin. If you were to add a comma after “circumstances” the letter would read, “Fill out the forms under no circumstances, put the forms in the bin.” This is now instructing the employee to not fill out the forms and put them in the bin, therefore, you can see how this would prevent effective communication as the employee has no idea what to do. If his boss had included proper punctuation this problem could have been avoided. To overcome this communication barrier, Apple could train all of their staff how to use punctuation properly. This way a problem like the one with the letter could be avoided and effective, clear communication can be achieved.