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Answer: Very important.
Spelling words correctly is very important for professional writers. Spelling mistakes distract from the message you are trying to convey to your reader.
“No problem!” You say. “I have a spell checker on my word processor. I won’t be making any mistakes.”
Of course, if you have a spell checker, then you should use it every single time that you write. Just don’t count on it.
You need to be aware that even if you use a spell checker your writing might still contain spelling errors.
There are three reasons why spell checkers don’t always work:
- Some words aren’t in the spell checker.
- Spell checkers don’t always catch a word that is being misused.
- You can add improperly spelled words to the dictionary of most spell checkers.
Often, words that aren’t in common use or words that are specific to a particular field or discipline aren’t found in a spell checker.
For this reason, I always suggest that writers make note of any words that the spell checker didn’t find and look them up in the dictionary. There are several excellent online dictionaries available, here are two of them:
Although many spell checkers are programmed to look for commonly misused words, remember that spell checkers are not fully reliable. Too many writers have trusted a spell checker to catch all of their mistakes–only to be embarrassed later.
Also, often there is just a single letter of difference between two words. A spell checker won’t catch an error if the misspelling is actually another word.
Examples include: The and then, her and here, bus and busy.
All of these spelling mistakes are actual words and most spell checkers will not catch them.
What spelling mistakes has your spell checker missed lately? Share some examples in the comments. (You get extra points if your examples are funny…)
8 responses so far ↓
1 Chamois // Aug 8, 2012 at
Spelling is my strong suit, but it’s the primary reason proofing eats up my time. Part of the job, right? Simple words like “to” and “too”, or “an” and “and”, I have to double check when I’m typing fast. And, lately…the spell corrector on Word loves changing “write” to “writer”. It can be annoying at times, but it’s a nice back-up, too.
2 Laura Spencer // Aug 8, 2012 at
Hi Chamois,
I hear you. Proofreading does take extra time, but it’s worth it. And yes, the spell checker can make things worse. It can be frustrating…
3 Barbara // Aug 8, 2012 at
Great points, Laura. I just found a post by a proofreader online in which she wrote “definately.”
Now, I’m the first to admit that I make mistakes, even though I’m a good speller. I agree with Chamois…sometimes when we go fast, things just happen! But really, if I were looking to hire a proofreader, I would not hire one who misspelled “definitely.”
4 Laura Spencer // Aug 13, 2012 at
Hi Barbara,
Yes, mistakes do happen. It could be that the proofreader was just in a rush. Sometimes we writers are not as careful with our own projects as we should be.
Or, she could have been relying on a faulty spell check tool. 🙂
5 Freelance Writer's Guild // Aug 14, 2012 at
Great points! Very helpful article.
6 Stacey // Aug 19, 2012 at
I always think about writing blog posts about editing, proofreading and spellchecking, but, what stops me is my fear that I am going to miss a typo in my own article that a proofreader will miss as well.
Good post, Laura.
7 Stacey Herbert // Aug 20, 2012 at
This is one of my hardest challenges as a copywriter not spelling as such, but, grammar. It,s also quite tough to learn better grammar after a certain age as you have already learned such bad habits. Sending clients work that I believed to be typo free and grammatically correct, only to find an error two days latter – is always annoying.
8 Laura Spencer // Aug 27, 2012 at
Thanks Freelance Writer’s Guild, Stacey and Stacey Herbert. It pays to be careful when checking your errors.