We’re all guilty of making a grammar error here and there, but some people are more forgiving of the slip-up than others. A new study took a look on what makes people more likely to have a judgmental view of grammar errors than others, revealing some interesting findings.
The study, conducted by University of Michigan professor Julie Boland, recruited 83 participants to " read email responses to an ad for a housemate that either contained no errors or had been altered to include either typos, such as mkae (make) or abuot (about), or grammar errors, such as to/too, it's/its or your/you're. They rated the email writers in terms of perceived intelligence, friendliness and other attributes, as well as provided information about themselves,” according to a press release.
In addition to reading the e-mails, participants were given the Big Five Personality Test in order to assess their respective five broad personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, according to the MinnPost.com.
"This is the first study to show that the personality traits of listeners/readers have an effect on the interpretation of language,” said Boland.
Participants who had the most problems with grammatical errors were not necessarily more educated or English majors- instead, they were people with introverted personalities that also scored on the lower end of agreeableness.
While the small study leaves a lot of room for error, its existence is much appreciated for anyone looking to fend off the entitled grammar police during the next skirmish.
Read the full story.
Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor
4/1/2016
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