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Why spell check is no substitute for a proofreader
By Nick Jones
Many people think that proofreading is a redundant skill these days because everyone uses computers and all computers come with programs that feature spell check. However, this is an extremely short-sighted view that overlooks the various flaws of spell check, and I would like to highlight just a few of these flaws to prove that - even in 2010 with all of technology's many advances - spell check is still no substitute for the human eye. When you are using a word processor such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice, or you are typing a comment on Facebook, you will notice that spell check will highlight incorrectly spelt words. This is extremely useful as it immediately makes you aware of any typos you may have made. Beyond that, however, spell check is extremely limited in its power to help you. While it may spot spelling errors, it will not spot words that are spelt correctly but used in the wrong context. For example, if you typed "I am feeling a little horse", then this ridiculous sentence would pass through spell check without any red squiggles whatsoever. As mistakes go, this is an absolute howler too - so you can see from this example just how flawed spell check really is! The problems do not stop at spelling either. If you ask it to in the settings, spell check can attempt to pinpoint grammar and punctuation errors. In some ways it is quite ingenious at it too - it will often detect where a comma has been erroneously used instead of a semi-colon, for example. But often it misinterprets the meaning and suggests the wrong thing altogether, so you could never place your trust in it fully. There is no denying that spell check has its place - it is a very useful safety net that will pick up obvious mistakes. Ultimately, however, language is so complex and so full of rules and nuances, that there will probably never be a computer program that can truly compete with the human brain - which is a great relief to me, because as a proofreader I do not wish to be replaced by a robot any time soon!
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You are right on the money. Interpretation is everything, quite often the start of misunderstanding. Great article.
I can point you to a few websites where "I am feeling a little horse" might be the start of something wonderful - for a handful of hay. N-e-i-g-h!
Yep, you are wright of coarse about spell chuck. It also can't help you with any poor sentence structure.  Great article.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thanks for the nice feedback people! I don't know where the horse example came from - some rather twisted corner of my mind I guess!
Your title immediately invoked one word: Homonyms! I like Lisa's comment about feeling a little horse.
I've noticed many errors in newspapers recently and agree that spell check is no substitute for the human eye. Good advice here! Thank you.
Great article Nick, Here's the example I like using and you have to be careful. "Nick is my fiend" oops! That should have been friend. One letter makes a big difference. Rosemary
I do a lot of writing for my websites. Spell and Grammar check does a pretty good job of helping, but your right, you definitely can't trust all of its recommendations.
 | | adac Feb 9, 2011 10:07 | |
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This intel was contributed by Nick Jones
Nick Jones
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May, 2012
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