＂Do You Make These Mistakes in English?＂

Sherwin Cody was an American writer and entrepreneur who developed a long-running home-study course in speaking and writing with an advertisement with this title.

A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. He asked:

• What is the reason so many of us are deficient in the use of English and find our careers stunted in consequence?
• Why is it some cannot spell correctly and others cannot punctuate?
• Why do so many find themselves at a loss for words to express their meaning adequately?

The reason for the deficiency is clear:

Most persons do not write or speak good English simply because they never formed the habit of doing so.

Most persons use only common words -- colorless, flat, ordinary. Their speech and their letters are lifeless, monotonous, humdrum.

If there is a subject of really universal interest and utility, it is the art of writing and speaking one’s own language effectively.

It is the basis of culture, as we all know; but it is infinitely more than that: it is the basis of business. No salesman can sell anything unless he can explain the merits of his goods in effective English (among our people), or can write an advertisement equally effective, or present his ideas, and the facts, in a letter.