TUAW: Apple news, reviews and how-tos since 2004: Ever proofread an email and realize after you have sent it that it contains a glaring error? You know those errors -- these are the ones that you miss because your brain inserts the missing word or overlooks spelling errors such as "wiht" that really should be "with."
5 comments:
This trick to prevent spelling errors is a fantastic idea because people know what they want to say, and simply skim over their writing to ensure the general idea gets through. But when read or spoke to, people look for errors or at least notice them more easily. Being able to pick up verbal errors more easily will result in a greater accuracy in typing.
I think this is a pathetic tip for our generation. The fact that this tip even exists shows how lazy our generation is. Because our generation is so entranced with technology and social media, it makes sense that many young people do not read over their messages and posts before posting online. Writing has become very conversational, and proofreading is simply not a top priority for many young people. The dangerous part is when this attitude transfers over into our work, reports, and papers. While this trick may work for some, I do not believe it can achieve the same effectiveness that proofreading can. If someone simply needs to make sure they have not misspelled words, this may be useful. But then again, why not just use spell check?
This article is a really handy thing for me to read, especially because I am starting my journey through college. Also with the every advance in technology I am writing more and more emails from my cell phone and it would be a good idea to make sure that all of the emails coming from my phone are correct and have no typos.
In interp last year when we had to peer edit each other's papers, the comment that I gave basically everybody was to read their paper out loud. I'm guilty of not doing this myself, but it is so important to hear what you're trying to say, and reading it alone is n't good enough. Reading it aloud and hearing it suddenly makes all of the errors stand out. My high school english teacher was a big fan of using text speaking sites and apps, and although I wasn't a big fan of hearing a computer voice read my stuff, I saw the importance of it. I think it's better just to read it aloud yourself, and as Jess said above, it is lazy to have a computer read for you. Is that really how far we've come. That being said, maybe having the computer read makes it easier for them to see mistakes. It's really whatever floats your boat when it comes to the editing process.
While this is definitely useful, nothing can beat speaking your paper or email out loud. Doing so can alert you to larger grammatical inconsistencies that might not have been otherwise picked up by generic spell-check software. At this point in time though, I don't think it's a "I missed that typo" thing. It's an "I didn't look this over at all." It's that frame of mind that really irks me. You are sending off a piece of text that directly relates back to who you are as a young professional and if you don't have the time or don't care enough to check over your work, then you shouldn't be hired. We all make typos. None of us are perfect. It's those who actively search those typos out who will go far in life.
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