I do a job. It's an unpopular job, a job that can't be brought up in polite conversation without souring it, a job for which I am called names. Nonetheless I persevere: I believe in my cause. It's an unpleasant thing but someone has to do it. I’ll admit it now: I'm a grammar nazi.

What's more, I am an unapologetic grammar nazi. I don't think I'm being picky or unreasonable to ask for the things we read from day to day to be correct. Whilst I understand the relaxing of rules when it comes to texting, Facebook statuses, instant messaging and the like, I believe there's little to no excuse for bad writing in articles, webpages and so on. It reflects poorly on the writer, who seems not to care about the message they're sending.

Hence the abundance of poor spelling and punctuation crime on writing websites, Teen Ink especially, is a mystery to me. If you are putting into words your thoughts to share with other people, surely you should take a minute to make sure everything is correct? It takes only a small amount of effort and the difference it makes to your writing can be huge. It is said that the meaning of your communication is the response you get: a piece which the author has clearly taken time and care over, demonstrating intelligence, will greatly improve the response readers make to them.