Proofreading Archives

Disburse Vs. Disperse–Wrong!

Some people talk about their mistakes in therapy. Some write about their mistakes in diaries or journals. I write about mine here. That way, I may save other people from making the same errors. The mistake: disburse vs. disperse. My mistake was thinking that disburse… continue reading

A Costly Error

People often visit this site looking for evidence of the cost of writing errors. Here is a story to add to your files. According to The Janesville Gazette, the Florida career management firm Allen and Associates is being sued because of a letter that should… continue reading

My Latest Mistake

Yesterday I discovered another mistake I had made, and I decided to turn it into a piece of advice for you. Isn’t that what life is all about–turning our mistakes into something positive? Here is the situation: Last week I completed a proposal for a… continue reading

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifiers–these are the phrases that appear at the beginning of a sentence (usually) that give people a chuckle because of what follows them. Here is an illustration: Chewing contentedly on our rose bushes, Aunt Amy saw a doe and a small deer. Because the… continue reading

Advice on Spell-Checking

Today I received good spell-checking advice in an email from Attorney Weston M. Binford, Jr., CPA. He pointed out that spell-check in Microsoft Word 2003 ignores any text with a number in it, therefore not catching an error like this: Retur4ns Experimenting, he realized: Apparently… continue reading

Save Time and Avoid Typos

My company is Syntax Trianing–I mean Syntax Training. I teach business wirting–that is, business writing. The errors I have just made–Trianing and wirting— are ones I often make as I type. To avoid making errors, I use the Autocorrect tool in Microsoft Office. Whenever I… continue reading

An Error, A Mistake: “A” & “An”

This morning I received an email from a friend who knows a lot about grammar and punctuation. I was surprised that her message included the phrase "a MS word specialist." It should have been "an MS word specialist" because "MS" is pronounced "em ess." Words… continue reading

Errors, Erors Everywhere!

Many visitors to this site have been searching for everyday examples of mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I have a Best Pick blog to recommend to you: Grammar Hell. In the spirit of Eats, Shoots & Leaves author Lynne Truss, Grammar Hell’s creator, Jack,… continue reading

A graphic of a comma next to the title of the article text: "Commas with names & Greetings," and an example: "Good morning, Michael."

Using Commas With Names and Greetings

Let’s take a look at commas with names and salutations, as we’ve been receiving various questions on the topic from our readers: Are There Commas After Greetings? Question: Do I have to use a comma with a person’s name when I say “Hi” or “Hello”?… continue reading

What If We Signed Our Email in Ink?

Last week I met with my friend Ira, who is a senior vice president of human resources. We talked about business writing and about the errors that fill email. Here’s one of Ira’s thoughts: We put our name on what we are proud of. Is… continue reading