Conducted by scientists Julie Boland and Robin Queen, from the University of Michigan, the study saw 83 participants read email responses to an advert for a new roommate. They were then asked to evaluate the applicant using social and academic criteria, including perceived intelligence and friendliness.

Before reading the applications however, each participant in the study was asked to complete a personality assessment. Using markers from the academically recognised Big Five Personality Test, Boland and Queen categorised the participants in terms of their Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extroversion and Neuroticism.

The researchers found that those who scored highly in terms of Agreeableness, were less likely to judge grammatical errors in the roommate application harshly. They also found that extroverts were far less likely to flag up the typos which led introverted participants to make judgements about the applicant.

Summarising their findings, which have been published in the PLOS One journal, Boland and Queen write: “More extroverted people were likely to overlook written errors that would cause introverted people to judge the person who makes such errors more negatively.

“Less agreeable people were more sensitive to grammos, while more conscientious and less open people were sensitive to typos.”

Pedantic about grammar? It's not the most flattering reflection of your personality, says science