Re: grammar & workplace writing

[gscumm1@pop.uky.edu (Gail Cummins)]

Dear All, I had a long conversation with my neighbor who is a CEO of a
hospital here in Lexington. He says that all of his colleagues send in
long, copious reports to the headquarter corporation and that his are 3
pages long: short and to the point. His reports are held up as models of
excellence. My husband is a consultant (at least for the moment.....the
company is always downsizing...) for AT & T, and he always tells me to "net
it out." He says that grammar is not important--the bottom line is. I
remember our former UK Chancellor telling me that someone like him doesn't
want a lot of words: He wants a chart with figures. So, what is my point? I
think that the academic sense of audience and purpose is different from
that of the business world. And each corporate culture has its own sense of
prioritizing rhetorical conventions. It's all the more reason for writing
centers to create literacy alliances with the community so that many of the
varied rhetorical audiences and purposes can be experienced--so that we
don't send our clients/students beyond the academy with only an academic
take on both grammar and rhetoric. -Gail

Gail Cummins
Director of the Writing Center
University of Kentucky
1215 Patterson Office Tower
Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0027
(606) 257-1356