When a teacher told me they were putting the discipline of diagramming sentences back into public school curriculum, I was surprised it had been taken out.

My grammar is far from perfect, but as a result of this exercise in my early childhood education, I at least know the difference between a noun and a verb and a sentence and a fragment — knowledge that too many professionals do not seem to possess today.

This conclusion is based not only on my experience with workers who can't write a comprehensible sentence, but also on reports from the National Commission on Writing that more than one-third of U.S. professionals do not possess adequate writing skills.

This is sad — especially since professionals are spending significantly more time writing than they were five years ago, accounting for as much as 30 percent of the average professional's workday, said another survey conducted by BackDRAFT, provider of business writing training solutions.

The survey found that financial and insurance employees spend more than 36 percent of their day writing; government workers, 37 percent; and business service professionals, 31 percent.

Although e-mail has become the predominant writing activity for most business professionals — accounting for more than two work hours per day per person or 400 hours per year — employees also write memos, reports and presentations, not to mention a resume and cover letter that help them get hired in the first place.

John Baldoni of Baldoni Consulting reviews a resume and cover letter to see if it's clear, coherent and expressive, saying: "Poor writing may be an indication of lack of education or at least lack of paying attention or concentration."

Chris Consorte, owner of Integrated Direct LLC, asks applicants to write a few paragraphs in their application, in which he is looking to "ensure it's grammatically correct and sound in message delivery."

Some managers blame e-mail for poor writing.

"The intense reliance on e-mail to conduct business has negatively impacted writing ability," said Beth Zimmerman, founder of Cerebellas, a business consulting firm. "In business, it's fair to expect people to be able to convey their ideas in a clear and powerful way."

Some — including Consorte, who teaches Managerial Communications at several New York-area colleges — blame high schools and colleges. Lakhani expresses a similar sentiment, saying: "If you've attended a four-year university and have above a 3.0 GPA and can't write a readable sentence, something went severely wrong."

But getting in the door is only half the story. Once on board, an employer can monitor your writing. Consorte said he reviews all written communications by making employees "copy me personally on all correspondence to clients."

But most important, your writing is a reflection of what's going on your head. If you can't write well, employers are going to conclude you can't think clearly either.

Write Andrea Kay at andrea@andreakay.com.