Supaproofread Blog

Difficulty with Words and Spellings – All for Fun

Have you ever had to reach for the dictionary with word block and felt like kicking yourself when you found the result?

I had this with “could” last week; for the life of me I “cud” not remember how to spell it and looked it up and booked an appointment for an Alzheimer’s test.

It happens to all of us but the following are the ones I frequently come across:

DIARRHEA

Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry or Else Accident

CONSCIENCE

Remember it as Science with a Con

DESERT or DESSERT

The Sahara only has one S in it – Desserts have SugarS

ECZEMA

Even Clean ZEalots MAy get spots

There is no X in this word – Simon Cowell has no Zits!

HAEMORRHAGE

Just Get Started Already

Writing is so tough for some people. But, I’m going to rant for a minute. It cracks me up what I have to deal with sometimes.

Just Get Started Already

A guy is pacing his floor, throwing his football up and down, looking out the window, banging his head against the wall…

“The night was dark and salty…”

Salty, I don’t think that word works all that well. Not salty. The air can be salty I guess, but the night wasn’t salty.

“The night was dark and lonely…”

Well, I guess the character could have been lonely. But, night doesn’t get lonely.

Our guy paces the floor a bit more with his football. He puts it down and pours himself a short glass of his flavor. He takes a drink and paces the floor a bit more as he grapples over what word is going to follow, “The night was dark and…”
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The Difference Between Editing and Proofreading

The writing process is technically made up of five different steps. Prewriting, writing, revising, editing and publishing is one version of those five different steps.

Prewriting, Writing, Proofreading, Editing and Submitting

That’s another variation. Of course, if you look through books and websites you’ll find quite a few other variations. But the bottom line is there is some confusion, the difference between Proofreading and Editing.

Why are there two different steps in the writing process that mean the same thing?

Well, they don’t really. A Supaproofreader will cover both steps. All you have to do is submit what you have written and we’ll take it the rest of the way to the Publish or Submit part.

But, proofreading and editing are different. They are actually two different sides of the same coin, but they have two different purposes. Let’s take a closer look.

Proofreading

Proofreading is actually the tougher of the two in my book. When you look your paper over after writing it, you should look for better ways of writing. You have awkward sentences that need some touching. You have words that don’t quite fit and you could make decisions about replacing them with more effective words.

You’re not just looking for errors in awkward sentences and weak words. You should look for places where you could be clearer. You should try to find places where you could make a stronger argument. Add sentences where explanations need to be. Proofreading is about tightening up your work and making your writing that much better.

Editing

Editing is where you look your work over for the actual grammar and spelling errors. That’s when you look through your document for all the “Red” squiggly lines – I can’t imagine anyone doing it with a typewriter anymore, but I do believe some old schoolers still exist. Just don’t consider every red squiggly line an error. “Supaproofreader” from a few paragraphs up and “schooler” in the last sentence technically are errors. But, I’m not changing them. I meant them just the way they are.

Don’t forget to look at grammar errors too. Subject and Verb agreement, Punctuation, Capitalization…those are the errors you catch when you are editing.

Yes, proofreading and editing can overlap. Let me put it this way, if I find a spelling error while I’m proofreading I’m not going to let it go. But, that’s the difference and now you know. Like the Justice League used to say all the time… “Knowing is half the battle.”

Writing Faster Than The Speed of Thought

If you ask me what my biggest writing fault is, I will answer “I over run with my sentences.”

You can disagree and think my writing is faulted for very different reasons, but certainly, my opinion is that I get lost and ramble on when I should just “.”

When I get into the flow and my fingers are dancing on the keyboard, the words just come and it is almost like speaking. The problem is that when we speak, we make so many errors with our English simply because the brain is processing thought far faster than it can process appropriate speech. When you get into that writers groove, the written word becomes imbued with the same errors that characterise spoken English.

A sure sign of “written thought” is the cliche. When I’m up against a deadline and my commissioning agent is yelling down the email pipe “Where are my 500 words on yak fur!”; cliches abound. The problem for me is that I find it hard to recognise when I’m using a cliche, so worn are the bad habits I have acquired with my English over the years. Frankly, it takes a second reading some time beyond any practical deadline for me to pick them up, or a second pair of eyes.
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A History of Words

I will not attempt to give an entire history of words. But, what I find fascinating is how set people get in things. A very brief and slightly lackadaisical look at the history of words might compel readers to start inventing words of their own.

It’s a fact that at one time there were no words. At the writing of the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, there were almost 200,000 active words, nearly 50,000 no longer in use and about 10,000 derivatives. The interesting fact is how many words we no longer even remember and how many words we will eventually invent, embrace and discard just like the others.

So, the “oohs” and “ahs” of the cave people needed to go. We only let our children use those words today because what else would they say if we didn’t at least give them those? But when sophistication steps into human record is when we start to build a lexicon of words that apply to what we need and want at every era throughout our history.
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The Super Proofreader’s Rule of Thumb

My first day back from the New Year and I would like to wish everyone a great year! I’m going to start it off right, with a story about freelancing and how to get off to a good start. Proofreaders are here to make you look good and here’s an example.

It was the year end, so I decided to take a look at a few things the other day. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I’ve got to admit that I feel a little inspired when I see how great other freelancers are doing. I looked at one such freelancer’s earnings and found him in the $70,000 USD range. That doesn’t even include work not accounted for in that particular profile.

It motivates me because that’s the potential we all have. But, I can’t help to think how much more potential I have over that writer because there were so many errors in his profile it was unbelievable. Yes, I looked. It was interesting and confusing at the same time. I guess it was an experience that humbled me a bit too.

It’s kind of a thing with me. I like to know my competition. I looked at the work he had done over the last year and I was impressed. But, I couldn’t get past the thought of wondering how in the world he got all those jobs. If I wanted someone to write something for me, I wouldn’t want to see any errors in his profile.
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