Came across this interesting play on words recently - the English language is a very complex and fascinating subject ...
 We are well into 2015 and even though technology seems to rush forward with new gadgets, updated iPhones and numerous other items to help us in this modern age, as yet, nothing has been invented to replace the Proof Reader. You could say that 'spell check' does the job - and yes it does, to a point. Much work that comes past my desk has been thoroughly spell-checked, yet, there are always words that slip through, usually with a different meaning altogether ... proving that technology - yes, we love it and couldn't live without it nowadays. So, for anyone who writes, whether it be an author, script writer, student or advertising executive - if it's going to be read by the greater public, then it needs to be word and grammar perfect! How many times have you seen a billboard with a glaring spelling mistake? I have seen many up and down the country - simple errors that seem to jump out at you as you're driving along - can be a dangerous thing for anyone who has an eye for correct spelling! Look out for my next blog which will include punctuation - why do we need quotation marks and where do we put commas, semi-colons and colons ... all essential tools in the writing world. 
This is what Mark Twain had to say on the subject of proofreading :
The difference between the almost-right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning-bug & the lightning. Mark Twain's well-known observation appears at the top of the "Language/Writing" page of a university's continuing education website--just above a blurb for "Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading." Except that Twain's line is misquoted, and the word lightning is twice misspelled as lightening. Twain had little patience for such errors. "In the first place, God made idiots," he wrote once. "This was for practice. Then he made proof-readers." Yet as a once newspaper reporter, Twain knew full well how hard it is to proofread effectively. He once said in a letter to Walter Bessant in February 1898: You think you are reading proof, whereas you are merely reading your own mind; your statement of the thing is full of holes & vacancies but you don't know it, because you are filling them from your mind as you go along. Sometimes--but not often enough--the printer's proof-reader saves you--& offends you--with this cold sign in the margin: (?) & you search the passage & find that the insulter is right--it doesn't say what you thought it did: the gas-fixtures are there, but you didn't light the jets. No matter how carefully we examine a text, it seems there is always one more small blunder waiting to be discovered. Media, Money and the Power of Profile ... I attended this workshop on Monday last week, presented by the dynamic Tanya Targett - Media Strategist and Award winning Journalist. One of the most enlightening and entertaining workshops I've ever attended - invaluable for all small business owners. Tanya is one of the most innovative and inspiring speakers - she had everyone at the workshop transfixed with her immense knowledge of the media and her quirky, somewhat witty narrative. Tanya not only enthralled everyone with her stories of her award-winning journalist days, yet had her audience exhilarated, and at the same time motivated and wanting to hear more and more. Suffice to say, the short five hour session was worth more to me than I can say - you can find Tanya at www.media-money-profile.com  I am often asked - "why proofread?"
Author: "I've read it through a dozen times and it looks great. Why should I pay someone to read it again?" Proofreader: "let me read just one chapter of your novel before you send to the publisher - free of charge." AND THE RESULT: Proofreader: "Thanks for allowing me to peruse that chapter. As you will notice, I have marked all the typos and grammatical errors so that you can go ahead and correct them ..." Author (looking gobsmacked!) ...... "here's the rest of my novel - please proofread for me ..." More often than not, the writer uses spell-check which is good but not full proof - and no matter how many times they read their manuscript, the errors (hidden to them) are blatantly obvious to a fresh pair of eyes. There is no doubt at all that money spent on proofreading your precious work is money WELL spent. Why cut corners when your best-selling novel is going to bring in loads of cash for you. The University student - your thesis is your doorway to greatness - don't submit something that is full of errors. You will have it handed back to you and waste your valuable time. Advertising Executives - how many times do we see glaring mistakes on billboards, the daily paper, television. or in magazines? Quite often in actual fact. Companies cannot hope to compete in the marketplace when common typos nullify their credibility and standing in the never ending battle to be the best ... Writing your press release is only half the job. Make sure you have it proofread thoroughly so you will have the best chance of being taken seriously The biggest mistake of all ... not having someone else look over your work – The number one rule to proofreading is - get a second pair of eyes on the job. The bottom line here is that we do not catch all our own mistakes. It’s practically impossible. Get a fresh pair of eyes to take a look. Proofreading written content before publishing it is no longer a given, as evidenced by the number of careless typos I see everywhere. In the rush to publish, it seems that many writers view proofreading as optional. I have read some great blog posts, and just as I am thinking about how I am going to share with my network, there it is … the hideous typo. I won’t share content with blatant errors in it because to me, that’s not quality content.
Mistakes involving spelling, punctuation, grammar, and word choice do matter, can make or break the quality and clarity of your content, and have an effect on your reputation. While it’s almost impossible to be perfect 100 percent of the time (hopefully there’s not a typo lurking in this post, but I’m sure someone will tell me if there is), you can avoid most embarrassing typos if you follow these tips. Familiarize yourself with basic grammar rules. There are some common grammar mistakes that trip up a lot of people. Using “your” instead of “you’re,” “affect” instead of “effect,” a misplaced apostrophe – these are all errors you might not catch if your last grammar lesson was in grammar school. Brush up on the basics and proofreading will become easier. Many of the big grammar crimes will jump right out at you as you review your work (as long as you understand the rules, that is). Need some help? Download this checklist as a reference to keep right next to you as you write and proofread. Don’t proofread your own writing. Most print publications like newspapers and magazines are vetted by a whole team of editors before they are published. That might not be the case with blog posts and other forms of online content, which may be written and published by the same person. But everyone’s writing can benefit from another set of eyes. An editor is a great investment for your content team (freelance or in-house). If you don’t have that luxury, ask the most detail-oriented person on your team to read over your work before you hit “publish.” Print out your work. For some reason, errors you don’t notice when you’re typing on your computer are easier to spot when you read a hard copy of your writing. Or some people swear by emailing themselves a copy of their work and reading it on a different device, like their phone or tablet. Related Resources from B2C » Free Webcast: Social Listening - Gateway to Innovation Give it a rest. Set your work aside — whether it’s for an hour or two, or a day or two. You’ll come back to it with fresh eyes and will probably notice things you didn’t before. If you’re on a tight deadline, walk away for at least five minutes. Whatever you do, never write and publish without a thorough review and proofread. Read your work aloud. Just like seeing your writing in print can give you a different perspective on it, reading something aloud can help you pick up on mistakes or even phrasing that could be clearer. This is especially helpful if you’re aiming for a conversational tone in your writing. If it sounds natural when you read it out loud, it will sound natural in print, too. If you have someone to help you with this task, even better. Give her the hard copy you printed out and have her follow along carefully as you read. She should be able to flag missing words or discrepancies that your brain might skim over. Don’t rely on spell-check. You already know that spell-check won’t save you from usage errors like “its” instead of “it’s” or “there” when you meant “their.” It also won’t flag repeated or missing words — little ones like “to,” “of,” “and,” “or,” and “the” are common culprits. Read your work backwards. Some people swear by this trick. When you read something as you normally would, especially if it’s something you wrote yourself, your brain knows what you meant to write and can skip over mistakes. Reading it backwards — right to left — requires some mental gymnastics that can make slip-ups easier to spot. Double check facts. Look up facts, figures, proper names, Twitter handles, website URLs, and anything else that you just “know for sure” is right, because sometimes your memory isn’t what you think it is. Remarkable content isn’t easy and isn’t an accident. Keep these tips in mind as you review what you write so your content is top quality and error free — and people are willing to share it. Want to dive deeper into style, grammar, and the art of proofreading? Try the classic for every writer, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Have any good proofreading tips that you think I missed? Let me know in the comments. Read more at http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/proofread-typos-content-8-tips-0843662#xRiGL27eQlazhOKP.99Proofreading written content before publishing it is no longer a given, as evidenced by the number of careless typos I see everywhere. In the rush to publish, it seems that many writers view proofreading as optional. I have read some great blog posts, and just as I am thinking about how I am going to share with my network, there it is … the hideous typo. I won’t share content with blatant errors in it because to me, that’s not quality content. Mistakes involving spelling, punctuation, grammar, and word choice do matter, can make or break the quality and clarity of your content, and have an effect on your reputation. While it’s almost impossible to be perfect 100 percent of the time (hopefully there’s not a typo lurking in this post, but I’m sure someone will tell me if there is), you can avoid most embarrassing typos if you follow these tips. Familiarize yourself with basic grammar rules. There are some common grammar mistakes that trip up a lot of people. Using “your” instead of “you’re,” “affect” instead of “effect,” a misplaced apostrophe – these are all errors you might not catch if your last grammar lesson was in grammar school. Brush up on the basics and proofreading will become easier. Many of the big grammar crimes will jump right out at you as you review your work (as long as you understand the rules, that is). Need some help? Download this checklist as a reference to keep right next to you as you write and proofread. Don’t proofread your own writing. Most print publications like newspapers and magazines are vetted by a whole team of editors before they are published. That might not be the case with blog posts and other forms of online content, which may be written and published by the same person. But everyone’s writing can benefit from another set of eyes. An editor is a great investment for your content team (freelance or in-house). If you don’t have that luxury, ask the most detail-oriented person on your team to read over your work before you hit “publish.” Print out your work. For some reason, errors you don’t notice when you’re typing on your computer are easier to spot when you read a hard copy of your writing. Or some people swear by emailing themselves a copy of their work and reading it on a different device, like their phone or tablet. Related Resources from B2C » Free Webcast: Social Listening - Gateway to Innovation Give it a rest. Set your work aside — whether it’s for an hour or two, or a day or two. You’ll come back to it with fresh eyes and will probably notice things you didn’t before. If you’re on a tight deadline, walk away for at least five minutes. Whatever you do, never write and publish without a thorough review and proofread. Read your work aloud. Just like seeing your writing in print can give you a different perspective on it, reading something aloud can help you pick up on mistakes or even phrasing that could be clearer. This is especially helpful if you’re aiming for a conversational tone in your writing. If it sounds natural when you read it out loud, it will sound natural in print, too. If you have someone to help you with this task, even better. Give her the hard copy you printed out and have her follow along carefully as you read. She should be able to flag missing words or discrepancies that your brain might skim over. Don’t rely on spell-check. You already know that spell-check won’t save you from usage errors like “its” instead of “it’s” or “there” when you meant “their.” It also won’t flag repeated or missing words — little ones like “to,” “of,” “and,” “or,” and “the” are common culprits. Read your work backwards. Some people swear by this trick. When you read something as you normally would, especially if it’s something you wrote yourself, your brain knows what you meant to write and can skip over mistakes. Reading it backwards — right to left — requires some mental gymnastics that can make slip-ups easier to spot. Double check facts. Look up facts, figures, proper names, Twitter handles, website URLs, and anything else that you just “know for sure” is right, because sometimes your memory isn’t what you think it is. Remarkable content isn’t easy and isn’t an accident. Keep these tips in mind as you review what you write so your content is top quality and error free — and people are willing to share it. Want to dive deeper into style, grammar, and the art of proofreading? Try the classic for every writer, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Have any good proofreading tips that you think I missed? Let me know in the comments. Read more at http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/proofread-typos-content-8-tips-0843662#xRiGL27eQlazhOKP.99 |
AuthorI'm a lover of the English language and of correct grammar. That is why I love to proofread other people's work and help them to "make a difference." Archives
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