Writing tips by a professional book proofreader, book copy editor and book writer
Perfectly Write is all about helping people with their writing. Passionate about the English language, I enjoy helping writers develop their skills. I offer advice and tips based on my experience as an book author and ghostwriter, author mentor, book copy editor and book proofreader.
Spellchecker: friend or foe?
Proofreading? Who needs it when you've got a spellchecker? We all have it, most of us use it, many of us swear by it: the spellchecker is the computer's modern-day answer to proofreading. But just how much should we trust this tool?
There’s no doubt that the spellchecker can be useful in catching those random typos, saving you from ‘embarasing errers’ in your writing. But if you’re going to use a spellchecker, it’s essential to be aware of their limitations as well, or your writing will be far from perfect.
As a professional book copy editor and book proofreader, part of my job is to ensure my clients’ material is written accurately. The vast majority of the time, the work I am passed has been spellchecked by the client beforehand, and yet I will still find countless mistakes in their material. Why?
Well, spellcheckers can tell you whether a word is correctly spelt, but not whether it is properly used. For example, your spellchecker will have no problem with: The bra was nosy and full off smock (The bar was noisy and full of smoke), and You’re diner is their (Your dinner is there). In addition, most British computers come with an Americanised spellchecker, which will delight in telling you to change ‘colour’ to ‘color’, and ‘travelled’ to ‘traveled’.
So, in practice your spellchecker will miss many, many mistakes. And if you think that’s bad, watch out for the accompanying grammar checker. While it will helpfully point out the odd double space mid-sentence, it will completely miss gems like The companies what make it programmes should big improve her gram cheques (The companies that make IT programs should greatly improve their grammar checks).
In view of these limitations, it’s clear that while spellcheckers have their uses, it is foolish to rely on them entirely. In the ‘good old days’ people relied on two essential tools to ensure their writing was accurate: their dictionary and their eyes. I’m afraid there is no substitute for this age-old winning formula. By all means use your spellchecker, but carefully and with a degree of suspicion, and then follow it up with a slow, thorough proofread.
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