Definitely A Dating Do: Good Grammar

Remember 6th grade? Remember how much you hated your grammar lessons? Remember when your teacher swore that knowledge would come in handy someday, even though it seemed pointless at the time?

This is that someday. It's right here, right now. It's your online dating profile.

Maybe being a writer makes me a little extra picky, but the spelling and grammar mistakes on dating sites are a total turn off, and there are tons of them. Is it really that difficult to use spell check or even - gasp! - proofread by hand?

The fine folks at eHarmony and the professional proofreaders over at Kibin teamed up to research the effects of bad grammar on your dating life. Here's what you need to know:

1. Women are more concerned with good grammar than men.
2. 43% of people say poor grammar is a turn off.
3. Over 80% of online daters publish their profiles without having someone else look them over for errors.

Grammar may seem insignificant, but even small mistakes can have surprisingly weighty consequences.

Of the 1,700 online daters polled, 22% said they're indifferent to grammar despite the fact that 43% said incorrect usage is a major turn off and 35% said correct usage is a major turn on.

Grammar usage may also tie in to a person's income. The poll found that those earning more than $100k per year care 10% more about good grammar than those earning less than $100k. If you're a sugar baby looking for a mommy or daddy, the profiles with the best grammar skills may be your best bet! And when you're on scammer alert, profiles that claim over $100k in income but are riddled with grammar errors may not be the real thing.

Like it or not, your writing reflects on you. It's not just the pictures you post and the boxes you tick for smoking, income, and education level. Your words are a chance for you to shine, an opportunity to stand out from the other millions of online daters...you don't want your incorrect use of their, there, and they're to be the most memorable part of your profile.

Keep an eye out for these 10 common grammatical mistakes:

1. Your vs. You're
2. It's vs. Its
3. There vs. Their vs. They're
4. Affect vs. Effect
5. Then vs. Than
6. Loose vs. Lose
7. Me vs. Myself vs. I
8. Fewer vs. Less
9. "Could of, would of, should of" instead of "Could have, would have, should have"
10. Complement vs. Compliment

Next time you're about to hi "Post," take the time to do a double check or find a second set of eyes to review your profile.

For more information on the site which brought us this survey you can take a look at our eHarmony review page.