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Image courtesy of flickr.com

It’s easy to get lazy about writing emails in our digital world, but a new study reveals making tons of grammatical mistakes in email can make you seem less desirable.

University of Michigan researchers had participants rate a person as a potential housemate based on an email they had received responding to an advertisement. In every case, the reader rated the writers of emails containing grammatical errors as less desirable than those who sent mistake-free messages. The data also showed that people who were conscientious or not open to new experiences were more bothered by typos, while less agreeable individuals were more bothered by common grammatical errors. Study authors note the relationships of the sender to the recipient can also have an impact on how errors are viewed, saying, “You might want to keep these findings in mind when you write for an unknown audience or when you read something from someone you don’t know.”