Well, the reality is grossly different. I leave out words and phrases. Spelling, syntax, and grammar can be challenging. This is true is if the words flow like water or if I am struggling to produce comprehensible sentences. This is true with all the assistance that Microsoft Word tries to provide for spelling and phrasing. I leave out words and only type part of other words (and completely miss the squiggly red underline provided by Microsoft Word). I type sentences that seem Nobel worthy. But, when the same sentence is read a year later, after have proofread the piece like four times, it is as if that sentence was written by someone who barely has ever had a coherent thought and barely knows English.
Gee whiz! How does this happen?
Clearly, I am not careful when I proofread. I am in a hurry to post the bloggy bit. And, to reiterate, I proofread with the mindset that is impossible I could have made any errors of any kind. I truly hold fast to this belief despite my dismal track record in this regard.
I wrote about this before. Back in January of 2018, I wrote a piece, The Proofreading Conundrum, in which I covered some of the same ground. In the passing seven years, four months, and eight days, my proofreading is still atrocious. I have tried to make it less atrocious but clearly have failed.
This time around I figured I would get the opinion of others, so I Googled, “proofreading one’s own writing.” Not surprisingly, there were websites and YouTubes expounding on this subject. California Coast University had an informative website. Their recommendations are as follows:
Mignon Fogarty, of quickanddirtytips.com suggests the following:
Read your work backward, starting with the last sentence and working your way in reverse order to the beginning. Supposedly this works better than reading through from the beginning because your brain knows what you meant to write, so you tend to skip over errors when you're reading forwards.
Read your work out loud, this forces you to read each word individually and increases the odds that you'll find a typo. This works quite well for me, and most of the typos that make it into my transcripts seem to be things you wouldn't catch by reading aloud, such as misplaced commas.
Always proofread a printed version of your work. I don't know why, but if I try to proofread on a computer monitor I always miss more errors than if I print out a copy and go over it on paper.
Give yourself some time. If possible, let your work sit for a while before you proofread it… if you are able to clear your mind and approach the writing from a fresh perspective, then your brain is more able to focus on the actual words, rather than seeing the words you think you wrote.
Here are some additional suggestions:
- Do your proofreading when you’re rested and not in a hurry to do something else.
- Work on your proofreading in an environment free from distractions or use noise-canceling headphones.
- When you’re proofing from a hard copy of your writing, use a seven-inch ruler in a dark color to guide you through your writing word by word and sentence by sentence.
- Use a red pen when you correct mistakes on a hard copy. Otherwise, when you go to your computer file to fix the mistakes, you might not catch them all — a red pen is your “red flag” for errors.
- Read syllables, not words, to catch mistakes within longer words with many syllables.
- Avoid rushing. If you feel yourself drifting off task, take a break to re-center yourself.
- Use Read Aloud (Alt+Ctrl+Space) in Word. The electronic voice will read your work to you, which can give you a fresh perspective allowing you to catch small (but important) mistakes you might otherwise have overlooked.
- In addition to Spelling and Grammar check on your computer, use other spelling and grammar tools available (many for free) online but always follow-up with your own proofreading. This gives you a double-check of sorts.
Well, thank you Mignon Fogarty, but that sounds tedious. I would rather win a large lottery prize and hire a full-time person to do all my proofreading. As good as this sounds, it requires a low probability miracle to occur. Thus, it is not a viable option.
But, hey, this 2025 and AI is all the rage. If AI can generate videos of Putin and Trump performing in a rock band, it oughta be able to proofread my drivel. So, I copied the first six paragraphs and asked ChatGPT to proofread it. First, ChatGPT responded with, “Your writing has a humorous, self-aware tone that's engaging and relatable. I've cleaned up grammar, punctuation, and syntax issues while preserving your voice and style. Here's the proofread version.” Then, it provided the following:
I am the worst proofreader of my own writing. It stems from a not-so-subconscious belief that, “How could I have possibly made any errors in writing this amazing piece?” The subconscious part of this is probably the unsaid, “Syntax, spelling, and grammar errors are for mere mortals—i.e., everyone but me.”
Well, the reality is grossly different. I leave out words and phrases. Spelling, syntax, and grammar can be challenging. This is true whether the words flow like water or I’m struggling to produce comprehensible sentences. This remains true even with all the assistance Microsoft Word tries to provide for spelling and phrasing. I leave out words and only type parts of others (and completely miss the squiggly red underline provided by Microsoft Word). I type sentences that seem Nobel-worthy—but when the same sentence is read a year later, after I’ve proofread the piece like four times, it’s as if it were written by someone who barely has ever had a coherent thought and barely knows English.
Gee whiz! How does this happen?
Clearly, I am not careful when I proofread. I’m in a hurry to post the bloggy bit. And, to reiterate, I proofread with the mindset that it is impossible I could have made any errors of any kind. I truly hold fast to this belief despite my dismal track record in this regard.
I wrote about this before. Back in January of 2018, I wrote a piece titled The Proofreading Conundrum, in which I covered some of the same ground. In the seven years, four months, and eight days since then, my proofreading is still atrocious. I have tried to make it less atrocious but have clearly failed.
This time around, I figured I would get the opinion of others, so I Googled “proofreading one’s own writing.” Not surprisingly, there were websites and YouTube videos expounding on this subject. California Coast University had an informative website. Their recommendations are as follows:
It is a brave new world.
No comments:
Post a Comment