Spellcheck schmellcheck: why there’s no substitute for proofreading
Each time you rely on spellcheck you risk mistakes and errors in your writing. Here are some of the reasons why spellcheck is no substitute for professional proofreading.
How many times have you sent an email or distributed a document, having run it through spellcheck, only to find it contains embarrassing mistakes?
Spellcheck can be a wonderful thing. It can tell you when you’ve spelled a tricky word incorrectly – that’s one C, two Rs – but it can’t tell you when you’ve used the wrong word, or the wrong spelling of the right word.
The English language is full of homophones – words that sound the same, but have different spellings and different meanings, like the examples below:
- your, you’re
- to, too, two
- there, they’re, their
- sight, site
- board, bored
Spellcheck doesn’t know if you’ve repeated a word word, or left one out, neither does it know which word you meant to use – it only knows whether the words you’ve used are spelled right.
None of the words below would be picked up by your spellchecker, but just one letter creates a whole new meaning:
- manager, manger
- concerns, concerts
- public, pubic
- committee, committed
- assess, asses
- reduce, seduce
- deaf, dead
- brought, bought
- through, though
- quite, quit
- returning, retuning
- excited, exited
- attitude, altitude
- realise, realist
- whole, hole
So, don’t sack your spellchecker, but don’t rely on it to do your spelling for you – it’s never a substitute for proofreading.
The devil’s in the detail: avoiding the pitfalls of pitiful proofreading
We’ve all seen examples of pitiful proofreading. How do you make sure your brand isn’t next in line?
These days, brands are everything. They have their own personalities, their own Twitter feeds – even their own blogs.
We spend months developing strategic marketing plans, weeks getting our message just right, and a sizeable chunk of our budget on marketing that makes us stand out from the crowd.
It adds up to a significant investment of both time and money.
Yet how many of us have risked that investment, only to find a typo in the title at the end?
When even our gr8 gran cn spk txt, maybe it’s understandable that we think we can leave proofreading to the computer spellchecker.
We know we shouldn’t. Computers can’t check context: they don’t know if we meant there, their or they’re, affect or effect, loose or lose. And – oops! – you just spelt manager as manger. Sorry, it won’t spot that either. P45 anyone?
We’re all under pressure – our inboxes buckle under the strain of hundreds of unanswered messages, our ‘to do’ lists get longer every day, and somehow there’s never enough time… it’s no wonder we end up cutting corners. You’re too close to your own work to proofread it yourself, and your colleague’s just as busy so there’s no point asking them to do it.
Something’s got to give, right?
Perhaps, but it should never be proofreading. Mistakes damage the brand you’ve put all that time and effort into controlling. Even the smallest error can make your company look unprofessional – losing you sales, and driving customers to do business with your rivals.
Conversely, accurate copy is more convincing, more effective and a whole lot more desirable.
Consider professional proofreading as security on your investment. It may be another expense, but it’ll pay for itself many times over.
A specialist proofreader will check a lot more than your spelling. They’ll check for consistency, grammar and syntax, typographical errors, alignment – and sense.
Theirs know point making shore all you’re words our spelt write if you’re sentence makes know scents.
Neglecting proofreading is like filling your home with expensive furnishings then cutting costs by not buying locks for the doors.
As the saying goes, ‘There’s never time to do it right, but always time to do it again.’ Don’t learn the hard way.
Eg and ie: what’s the difference?
If you want to use eg and ie in your writing, make sure you know the difference.
I don’t like abbreviations in writing.
They’re lazy and usually unnecessary.
But that’s just me.
If you’re going to use eg and ie in your writing, these tips will help you get it right.
eg and ie: the difference
• eg means ‘for example‘ or ‘such as‘
• ie means ‘in other words‘
It helps to remember for egsample.
eg and ie in use
Here are some examples of how to use eg and ie correctly – and how to avoid them altogether:
Instead of writing:
I love savoury food, eg cheese, crisps, crackers, and nuts.
You could write:
I love savoury food, such as cheese, crisps, crackers, and nuts.
Or, even simpler:
I love savoury food – cheese, crisps, crackers, and nuts.
Instead of writing:
I’m doing my favourite thing tonight, ie dancing.
You could write:
I’m doing my favourite thing tonight – dancing, in other words.
Even simpler:
I’m doing my favourite thing tonight – dancing.
I hope this helps you to remember the difference between eg and ie in future – and to think about whether you really need to use them.
Everyday vs every day: tips to remember the difference
Do you know when to write EVERYDAY and when it should be EVERY DAY? These simple tips will help you get it right.
Driving up the M5 recently I overtook a Poundland lorry emblazoned with the company’s slogan: Amazing value everyday!
If I hadn’t been driving, I’d have thrown large objects in protest. Because what it should say, of course, is Amazing value every day!
Confusing everyday with every day is a common mistake, but there’s a simple tip to make sure you get it right.
If you can replace every day with each day, use every day. For example, ‘I watch TV every day’.
Everyday is an adjective meaning ‘commonplace’, and is used to describe a noun. For example, ‘an everyday occurrence’ means something that happens every day.
Remember, Poundland: your stock may be cheap, but good grammar costs nothing. Unless you paid an expensive ad agency to come up with a bum tagline, of course.
Get more tips in The Little Book of Confusables
EVERY DAY vs EVERYDAY. Excerpt from The Little Book of Confusables by Sarah Townsend.