As we rapidly generate documents and email, we rely more and more on Microsoft’s grammar and spelling checker. But you may not be getting as much as you could from that tool. For example:
Does your grammar checker catch passive-verb sentences, such as “The meter should be read”?
The active-verb form is “Read the meter.”Does it catch a pile-up of nouns, such as “Service Agreement Addendum Discussion”?
The phrase reads more clearly as “Discussion on the Addendum to the Service Agreement.”Does it provide Readability Statistics, such as the average number of words in your sentences?
In business writing, sentences should average no more than 15 to 20 words. In this post, sentences average 12 words.
If your software isn’t flagging the above items, here’s how to change the Grammar & Spelling settings so that it does:
- In MS Word or Outlook, go to TOOLS. Select OPTIONS, then SPELLING & GRAMMAR.
- In the lower right corner, under Writing Style, select either “FORMAL” or “GRAMMAR & STYLE,” depending on your version of MS Office.
- Click SETTINGS. Be sure you have selected “Passive sentences,” “Successive nouns (more than 3),” and any other error you want to identify.
- On the main SPELLING & GRAMMAR menu, select SHOW READABILITY STATISTICS.
- Recheck your document for errors.
When you correct a spelling error that has been flagged, correct it carefully. If you don’t, you may be like the person who wrote to me about being unable to attend a workshop. He wrote, “I hope it doesn’t cause you any incontinence.” Although disappointed, I had no such physical reaction!