Proofreading Archives

Proofreading

Capitalizing Hyphenated Words in Titles

Recently, a question from one of our readers regarding our Business Writing Tune-Up class came up: in a hyphenated compound word, shouldn’t a little word like up be lower case? As is often the case with capitalization, it depends what part of speech up is. In tune-up,… continue reading

Proofreading

An Intriguing Spelling Error

My friend Margaret sent me an interesting error in a job description. What follows is the beginning of the job description for a custodian: The custodian performs a wide variety of tasks on a routine basis: Moping restroom floors. Do you think the error says something about… continue reading

Proofreading

Taining Opprotunities

Did I get your attention with that heading? It got mine. This heading was featured prominently in a marketing email from a well-known training company: Additional Taining Opprotunities Underneath the heading was a nice photo of the Seattle skyline and the words "In addition to our… continue reading

Put the Ticket(s) in the Envelope(s)

Erik, a technical writer, wrote to me with a problem involving awkward writing. "I am hoping you can give me feedback on something I run across frequently in my job at a bank. Many of our procedures and forms use what I call 'parenthetical plurals';… continue reading

Proofreading

Your Choice: Proofread or Shrink in Embarrassment

Yesterday I received two "Oops" emails within 20 minutes. At 4:15 p.m. I received a message that began like this: Dear Lynn, Please note: The earlier version of this email along with the March "Xxxxx" had a few errors, which have been corrected. To view… continue reading

Proofreading

Avoid Crazy Connections by Proofreading Aloud

I just read a blurb for a sad news story: "Two EMTs are accused of ignoring a pregnant woman who collapsed and later died because they were on break." The story is sad and disturbing, but the sentence structure suggests a preposterous connection. The woman… continue reading

A Well-Known Problem: Hyphens With “Well” Words

UPDATED IN OCTOBER 2022 A reader wrote to me today asking about a sentence with the phrase “well known.” Is he “well known for his philanthropy” or “well-known for his philanthropy”? These days I can give a quick answer: He is well-known for his philanthropy. The… continue reading

Proofreading

Proofreading Quizzes–Test Yourself!

In today’s New York Times online, you will find a proofreading quiz, “Red Pencils Ready?” by Philip B. Corbett. Try it! Hint: Corbett’s quiz includes one or two errors per passage. I am sharing that hint since I identified many more “errors” than The Times did. That’s… continue reading

Proofreading

How to Avoid Silly Errors in Email

A procurement manager from Washington, D.C., asked for ways to avoid silly errors caused by too little time to proofread and too much reliance on the grammar and spelling checker. I am happy to share my strategies: Rethink your attitude toward proofreading. Proofreading is not… continue reading

Proofreading

Proofreaders and Thieves: Check Everything!

Recently in the National Geographic Magazine blog David Brindley confessed an embarrassing error in the May issue of National Geographic. In his post, "Slips Happen," he admitted that the thoroughly researched and beautifully mapped story "Arctic Landgrab" contained one ugly error: the misspelling on page 112 of… continue reading