The resume was turned in but the applicant never got a chance at an interview.

The employer took the time to look over the resume, but as soon as typos and grammatical errors were discovered, the applicant’s chances went down the drain.

Associate chair of student media in the Department of Communications, Susan Walton said this scenario is all too common.

In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on written communication, some professors worry that BYU students are grabbing their diplomas without ever learning proper grammar and spelling.

Bill Baker, professor in the Marriott School of Management, said he thinks spell check is both a help and a hindrance.

“Humans are imperfect proofreaders, but so are computers,” he said. “Humans will catch things that a computer won’t and vice versa. Neither one alone is going to be good; we need both together.”

People have varying views on the usefulness of programs like spell check and T9 text messaging.

“It helps because I can’t spell, but I can’t spell because I use it,” said Kristina Eich, an elementary education major from Sandy.

Others feel the tools can be helpful as long as they are used with the right objective in mind.

“It depends on your goal,” said Daphne Harzheim, a speech therapist from Germany. “If you want to enhance your cognitive abilities then it is a hindrance, but if you just want to hand in a nicely written paper then of course, it’s a great help.”

Writing, Baker said, has changed during the 40 years he has been teaching advanced writing classes.

“Then it was pencil, pen and a typewriter,” he said. “More people spoke directly with each other or on the phone. Today, a lot more writing is done through e-mails and text messaging. Students today write much better than they did 40 years ago because of the everyday practice they get.”

One of the reasons good writing skills are so important is that poor writing can lead to a poor impression before there has been an actual face-to-face meeting with someone.

“How we speak and write is often our first impression,” said Leslie Kawai, a professor of advanced writing classes in the Marriott School of Management. “An attitude of ‘it doesn’t matter how I write’ is the wrong attitude.”

Kawai said students who take the time to improve their writing are much more likely to achieve success.

“Some people think grammar is a pain; but you are empowering your writing when you have good grammar,” Kawai said. “‘Speed bumps’ will be eliminated because the reader doesn’t see errors along the way. We use certain words which will be remembered and which will leave an impression.”

As research for this article, an unofficial survey was given to 50 students on campus to test their knowledge of basic grammar skills.

The quiz tested the students’ ability to differentiate between words like “lay” and “lie” or “affect” and “effect.”  

Forty-two percent of students answered the lay/lie question incorrectly and 90 percent of students answered the affected/effected question incorrectly. On some of the questions, a vast majority of students surveyed answered incorrectly.  

Kelsey Jones, an English major from Draper, said good grammar is a surefire way to attract her attention.

“It’s amazing to see how good grammar really sets a person apart from others, whether it be as a job applicant, a physics major, or a Sunday School teacher,” she said. “I think perhaps it’s because that means a person grew up reading a lot and that process itself helped to develop not only their grammar, but their critical thinking skills as well.”