Tips for perfect proofreading - Emphasis

Tips for perfect proofreading Tips for perfect proofreading Its turned into proofing week here at the Emphasis blog. In this final part, we aim to finish turning you into mistake-spotting machines. How Stocking up on red pens is just the beginning. Follow these tips to ensure you always prove your proofreading prowess. Proofread in the morning if you can if youre tired, youre more likely to miss things. Proofread at least twice once for sense, once for technical accuracy. Read backwards for typos so youre not distracted by the meaning of the words. Use a blank sheet of paper to cover material not yet proofed and point to each word as you go. Print documents off to proofread its much more effective than trying to do it onscreen. [Note: If, however, your office or personal policy is to minimise printing for the sake of the environment, at least use a pen or pencil to point to each word onscreen as you go.] What Look out for: clusters of mistakes: the elation of spotting one may lead you to miss the one right next to it repetition of words particularly split over two lines commonly mixed up words, eg there and their, or principle and principal little words big words draw the eye brackets and speech marks is the second one in the right place? And finally Here are a few clarifying pointers inspired by the challenge worth raising: Its very easy to overlook titles, subtitles and headings, or subject lines in email (particularly as they wont be spellchecked). Dont! There was a howler in this one. Depending on your companys style, you may not need to put a comma after the salutation and sign off in letters and emails. If you do use them, be consistent ie use them after both Its only needs an apostrophe when its short for it is or it has. When it shows possession, it doesnt have one. If youre having trouble placing an apostrophe in a less-than-familiar construction (eg each others work), just reverse it like so: the work of each other (not others). So here it needs to go after the r. Youd only put a full stop or any other punctuation inside a bracket if the brackets contain a full sentence. If they contain an aside, the punctuation will be outside. For example: From now on, lets make sure that nothing is sent out without first being proofread (this includes email). Happy proofing!