|  If
your word-processor has a spell-checker, then use it before printing
out your work. This should be part of your regular editing .
The
spell-checker will highlight any words you have mis-spelt, such
as the common problem words - 'accommodation', 'parallel', and
'recommend'.
The
checker will also spot typing errors such as 'hte' for 'the', or
'nad' for 'and'. You can either choose the correct word from a
list, or it might offer you the chance to reverse the mis-keyed
letters.
Most
spell-checkers will spot mistakes such as double words if you type
'going to to the fair'. It will offer you the chance to
put the mistake right.
However,
there are some problems and mistakes a spell checker cannot spot.
That's because it doesn't know if they are mistakes or not. Here
are some examples.
The
checker will not notice anything wrong with a word broken by a
space such as 'to morrow'. That's because these two terms exist
as separate words.
A
spell-checker will not alert you to a mistake if you write 'They
washed there own clothes' instead of 'They washed their own clothes'.
This is because the word 'there' is spelt correctly even though
it is being used wrongly in this sentence. The same would be true
of 'It is over hare' instead of 'It is over here,'. This is because
'hare' exists as the word for an animal.
A
checker will not spot anything wrong if you use word 'practice'
instead of 'practise'. This is because both words exist separately.
The same would be true of 'advise' and 'advice'.
It
will not be able to recognise specialist terms and unusual
proper nouns - names such as Schumacher, Derrida, or Nabokov. These
will not be in the processor's memory. You will have to check the
correct spelling of these yourself, as you would do with any other
unusual or foreign words.
A
spell check is always done after you have written your work.
However, there are good arguments for using the checker at earlier
stages as well. Layout and spacing might
be affected.
The
limitations of spelling checkers are summed up in this poem. A
checker would not spot any mistakes here. And notice that this
also illustrates the dangers of spelling words as they sound,
rather than how they are written.
'My New Spell Checker'
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
[Sauce unknown]* |
