Do spelling, punctuation and grammar count?
Yes, yes and yes. This is non-negotiable. To avoid these errors, make sure you proofread carefully. How you say something cannot be separated from what you are saying. If I’m spending time correcting mechanical or typographical errors, I’m not able to attend to your argument. Computer spell-checks are easy to use and having your essay on disk makes it incredibly easy to go back and correct these kinds of simple errors.