5 Proofreading Tricks

Published 18 September 2017 at LinkedIn.com:

Spelling matters. Your Grade 5 teacher was right about that, and it’s still true in this digital age.

There are times when spelling is, in fact, crucial. I’m thinking of resumes and cover letters in particular right now, but it’s also true of reports, proposals and memos to superiors. A couple of misspellings can torpedo your chance at a job, or impede your career advancement with your present employer.

So, as a public service, I offer five proofreading “tricks” I’ve adopted and developed over my past 20-plus years as a reporter, editor and freelance writer.

1. Change the font size.

Sometimes the eye can miss an error due to a line break. You finish one line of text and move down to the next, and you don’t notice that the word at the end of one line doesn’t quite fit with the first word on the next line. Perhaps you’re missing a word, or maybe you’ve paired a plural noun with a singular verb. A boost in font size will change those line breaks and thus make those little boo-boos more apparent. A change in font – from Bookman to Arial, for example – can help, too, by presenting your eye with slightly different shapes than the ones it has been glancing over.

2. Read every word out loud.

Really. Every word. Clearly and methodically, as if the text is new to you and you’re having a somewhat difficult time with it. Don’t zip through the reading. Actually sound out every word. That way you’ll notice a missing word or a “brain burp” malapropism such as having typed “complied” when you meant “compiled.”

3. Put the “find” feature to work for you.

Some terms have alternate spellings that are preferred in some circles but not others. For example, a Canadian journalist might write of a “five-storey” building but “five-story” is preferred in the United States. Using the “wrong” spelling likely won’t be a big deal to anyone but the most picayune of readers, but using both is a definite no-no. To ensure consistency, use the “find” feature in Word to hunt down every instance of “storey” or “story” and change it to the preferred spelling.

4. “Fact check” all names and dates.

No one likes to see their name misspelled, and a misspelled proper name detracts from a writer’s credibility. Correct dates are important for both credibility and (in the case of coming events) making sure you don’t steer a reader wrong. (You’d hate to have someone show up a day late for a meeting because of something you wrote, wouldn’t you?) I’ve adopted a simple system for fact-checking names and dates: I highlight them, either on paper or in Word, and then check them against what Google tells me. If I’ve identified Fred Dougall as president of SBK Widgets, I’ll go to Google to confirm the spelling of his and the company’s name (and, while I’m at it, hopefully confirm that he’s president and not CEO or general manager). If I wrote that the elephant rescuers’ conference was held last April, I should check to make sure it wasn’t actually held in March or May.

5. Finally: Use spell-check.

Spell-check has its deficiencies. For example, it may not flag instances where a typing mistake resulted in a legitimate word (“tic” instead of “tick”). But it’s there, and it’s useful even if imperfect. Use it.