Many PCs now have built in spell checks and grammar checkers.  This may sound like a great idea when you are essay or dissertation editing and should save time with proofreading, but the sad thing is that the software isn’t sophisticated enough to pick up every mistake and sometimes it thinks something is a mistake when there is no problem on the page.  If you use a grammar checker or spelling software, here are some things to watch out for.

Mistakes on purpose!

Sometimes you want to write a mistake on purpose!  For instance, you might be assessing school children’s understanding of 17th century London and one child might write about “The Great Fier”.  You want to quote their misspelling of “Fire”, but the software wants to correct it.

Editing Context

Another problem is that the software doesn’t notice every mistake.  Let’s say you are writing about The Great Fire and accidentally write “The Grate Fire”.  The spell check won’t pick this mistake up since “grate” is a correctly spelt word – it’s just in the wrong context here.

The grammar check software will make silly mistakes, thinking that something is wrong when it is right! For example, you might type: “When you copy edit or proofread work…”.  The checker highlights the two words “edit or” believing that the space is a mistake.  The checker suggests that this should be “editor” – in this case turning “editor” into a verb!

Editing help

On those occasions when the software is correct, you can accept or decline the suggestion (click “Ignore”).  The other choice is to click “Add” to put your chosen spelling in the checker’s dictionary.  It can then remember your spelling for another time.

Professional Proofreading

What’s the solution to these problems with the software?  All these problems with the spelling and grammar checks mean that we still need human editors.  You may decide to edit your work, or you could get a friend or a professional editor to check it for you.

Have you experienced problems with the spell check or grammar checker on your computer?  Let us know!  Post a comment below.