Reasons not to Trust Spell Check

I once worked with a PR manager who confessed over dessert at an office luncheon that she had nightmares about omitting the letter “l” from the word “public” in press releases. Several of us, myself included, thought this was hilarious. Now that I’m in the business of writing and editing, I don’t find it so amusing.

I have to admit, when I first encountered spell-check, I welcomed it with open arms: a safety net, if you will; an extra line in the defense against poorly written copy. I eventually realized that spell check only catches words that are actually misspelled. It doesn’t correct misused words that are spelled correctly, for example, “insure” (as in buying insurance) and “ensure” (as in making sure). Spell checker also doesn’t alert you to words with a missing letter that are words themselves, like “tacking” when you really meant to type “tracking.”

Check out my personal top five reasons not to trust a built-in spell check program.

Check out my personal top five reasons not to trust spell check:

1. Words that sound the same but have different meanings: sight (to see) site (location)

2. The three “2s” – too (also) to (preposition) two (number)

3. Could of instead of could have – verb (have) instead of preposition (of)

4. If you “pear a pare,” spell check won’t warn you that it should actually be “pare a pear”

5. My personal tripwires – fro instead of for; from rather than form; it when I mean if; and on for one

#spellcheck #writing #grammar