Article
By Brent Sampson
Five Tips for Catching
(and Correcting) Errors in Your Writing
Recently, an online blog debate sparked over “What is your If your writing will be seen by many – via a Web site or an
worse fear?” While the blog was filled with valuable information, e-mailed newsletter – do not make the mistake of relying solely
the majority of the responses and feedback focused on whether upon a computerized spell-checker, which cannot tell the
the proper word was “worse” or “worst.” English majors came out of difference between “worse” and “worst” as both are properly
the woodwork to plead their case, camps divided and flame wars spelled. Use a human editor.
began. Sure, the article garnered a lot of attention, but perhaps not
the best kind for the author. Readers were not divided on the 2. Get a second and third set of eyes
subject matter; they were divided on whether or not the writer was Since you are overly familiar with your own work, you are much
proficient in the English language. more likely to miss obvious mistakes because your mind already
The point is, a wrong word devalued the whole article and as a knows what it is supposed to say, rather than what it actually says.
result, discredited the writer. Don’t make the same mistake. Below Even if you do not wish to pay a professional, anyone who reviews
are five tips you can employ to drastically decrease the chance of your writing will find mistakes you invariably miss. When others
mistakes finding their way into your writing, whether a letter, read your work, they don’t have any preconceived notions about
proposal, Web site, book, or newsletter. your writing. At the same time, human behavior will often motivate
them to find fault. Use that to your advantage. In addition to finding
1. Utilize an editor mistakes, other people may offer helpful suggestions to make your
The most common mistakes are minor, such as misspellings or writing stronger.
incorrect use of punctuation. Other common errors are
incorrect word use (their, they're, there; worse, 3. Come back to it later
worst, borscht, etc.). A professional editor is How long do you wait after writing to begin editing? Many
adept at noticing and correcting these writers edit their work as they write it. Not only does this slow down
kinds of mistakes. the creative process, it increases the chance that your mind will
ignore blatant errors in deference to your intentions. Once your
brain thinks a paragraph is free from errors, it tends to overlook any
new errors that are introduced during the rewriting process. Put
your writing away for several hours, days or weeks (depending on
your deadline) and revisit it later. After some time away from your
work, you will be more likely to read the words as they appear on
the page, not as you envisioned them in your mind. The mind is
error-free, the page is not.
4. Read your material backward
Fortunately, you are only familiar with your writing in one
direction – forward. Reading your material backward makes it
seem entirely different and fools your mind into ignoring the
intention and only concentrating on the reality. Furthermore, your
critical view of the writing at its most technical level will not be
corrupted by the flowing exposition you have massaged into
sparkling prose. When you read your document backward, it
becomes a collection of words without contextual meaning. The
brain has nothing to focus upon other than the words themselves
and mistakes literally jump off the page.
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