Putting out a high quality item is a given these days. With all the competitors out there, you have to appear great in every aspect. So proofreading all copy is extremely essential and here are some tips to help you to proofread your own function following you’ve finished editing it:

Read through your copy the next day — numerous times your eye tends to ‘deceive’ you by studying what’s intended to be there rather than what may really be there! Studying it a day or two later on helps you to appear at your copy with a fresh point of view!

Use ‘spell check’ which is obtainable on most programs. Even though they are not perfect, they will help you to discover numerous mistakes. A red squiggly underline means the phrase may be misspelled, a green squiggly underline may mean a grammatical or punctuation error.

Print it out. Studying it in print can numerous times help you catch issues you did not catch on the screen.

If at all possible, have somebody else read it. They can catch sentences that may be as well lengthy, be unclear, and so on. You know the stage you’re attempting to make in your copy, but if others don’t understand it, rewrite it so it’s much more clear to everybody.

Be extremely careful how you use phrases this kind of as ‘then’ versus ‘than’. These phrases are used incorrectly really often but mean different issues.

Then is primarily used to signify time, e.g. “We went to the grocery, then we went to the bank.” Than is primarily used as a comparison, e.g., “I would rather go hiking than consider a nap.”

There are a lot of concerns about the hyphen (-) versus dash (–) and here’s the fundamental rule:

A hyphen is used when you are putting two phrases collectively or adding a prefix to a phrase. Right here are a few examples: twenty-four, re-signed or lengthy-time.

A dash is used when you’re interjecting into a sentence (this kind of as, “I love taking the canine for a walk — particularly on warm days — because it is great exercise for us each.”).

In numerous programs a dash will appear like a lengthy hyphen instead of two hyphens next to each other. Dashes are also numerous times used in location of parentheses in much more informal writing.

Punctuation within or outside the quotes? Here’s the fundamental rule for this one: if you’re using a comma or a period, they go within the closing quotation mark. Colons and semicolons go outside the closing quotation marks.

Query marks and exclamation marks are different and rely on how they are being used (just to complicate issues much more!). If you are straight quoting somebody and a question mark or quotation mark is required because what you’re quoting is a question or exclamation, it would go within the quote.

Here’s an instance for this one: He asked, “Are you going to the party?” “You bet!” she exclaimed.

If what you’re straight quoting is not a question or exclamation, the quotes go within the exclamation or question mark.

An instance of this is, Did David say, “You should have fallen out of bed”? or Linda really stated “You should be right”! Studying these guidelines may consider a little time but if you print out this write-up and post it near your computer, you can refer to it any time you get confused. Remember, you don’t have to worry about it whilst you’re writing and editing your copy (that’s when you just allow the creativeness flow), worry about it following all revisions have been created and it’s time to proofread.

You can also discover Grammar books at your nearby bookstore or library. Glance through them to discover one you like.

If you really feel you don’t have time to proofread, don’t want the hassle of attempting to discover the guidelines, or just don’t want to worry about it, you always have the choice of employing a professional proofreader. Professional proofreaders (as nicely as copy-editors) can be discovered via a lookup on the internet or by asking other writers who they use (if they have good, clean copy). When you’re looking for a proofreader, make certain they are skilled in the kind of writing you do (company writing versus product sales, informal or conversational writing) and that they have no mistakes on their copy — if they aren’t extremely careful with their own function, do you think they would be with yours?)

The cash you invest on a professional proofreader, apart from effortlessly being created up with the elevated product sales you should anticipate by having a much more professional item, is effortlessly worth the time, effort and aggravation you will save yourself. So consider it simple, allow the creativeness flow, deliver the function off to a professional for editing and/or proofreading, then sit back again and unwind whilst your copy is being groomed to perfection!

(c) 2005 Nita Assisting Hand?, all rights reserved.

You are totally free to use this material in entire or in part as lengthy as you consist of the subsequent:

About the author: Nita is a professional proofreader, copy-editor and the President of Nita Assisting Hand? Make sure you go to Nita’s website for additional information about proofreading, copy-editing and other administrative needs obtainable at NitaHelpingHand.com or get in touch with her at info@NitaHelpingHand.com. Nita is your ‘Partner In Perception’.