In Plain English - Spell checkers, proofreading and the lack of free
lunches
By Mary Barnard Ray
No, Virginia, there is no free lunch. Spell checkers do not do your
proofreading for you. Not even grammar checkers can do the whole job.
You still have to sit down and read what you have written before you ask
the reader to do so.
Computers' spell checkers and grammar checkers are useful but limited
tools; they'll never replace the need for human proofreading.
Spell checkers do, however, change the nature of the proofreading
task. In some ways, they make proofreading more difficult. The spell
checker removes the frequent errors, like "teh," "dificult" or
"defendent." So as you proofread, your eye glides across rows of
error-free text. This near-absence of error and the familiarity of the
text invite you to read faster. The result is that you glide right over
the few mistakes that remain. Thus, for example, you may not catch the
error of writing: "Instead, you may now include the amount." when you
meant "Instead, you may not include the amount."
Such errors can be costly and embarrassing. For example, "The
Plaintiff has failed to establish that any unfair pricing practices were
used by this pubic utility."
It will be a while before spell checkers develop the human's sense of
meaning and context. In the meantime, proofread.
The remaining question is how to proofread efficiently. The best
solution is probably to get someone else to do it, someone who has not
read the piece of writing before. Try to arrange a trade with one of
your trusted coworkers: each of you can proofread each other's writing
before it leaves the office. You will both save yourself public
embarrassment, and occasionally, have a good laugh.
If you must proofread your own writing, do not try to proofread
immediately after writing the document. Instead, set it aside and do
something else first. Make a phone call, have lunch or read a humorous
column in the paper. To proofread effectively, you need to move to a
different state of mind and away from your familiarity with the
document's content. If you produce several documents in a day, you may
be able to proofread all your documents at the end of the day, if by
then you are in a cynical mood or are looking for a good joke.
Alternatively, you may proofread them all the next morning, when you are
fresh but not yet ready to tackle new writing projects.
You may find a specific proofreading technique that helps you.
Various writing aids suggest ways to proofread: reading backwards,
reading aloud or making several passes looking for different kinds of
errors in each pass. Each of these techniques helps some writers, but is
no help at all to others. Do not worry if your proofreading technique is
different from your coworkers, from the advice you read or from what you
were taught in school. Do worry, however, if you are not proofreading at
all.
When it comes to proofreading, there is only one rule: Just do
it.
From the Mailbag ...
Please Comment on the Current Use of "Parameters"
Q: Shouldn't "parameters" often be replaced by
"perimeters" or "limits" or "boundaries"? To me, a parameter is a
variable term or factor.
A: Most nonmathematical writers use "parameter" imprecisely, using it
to suggest a variety of meanings. As a result, readers can't be sure
what the word means much of the time. To avoid leaving a reader with
this confusion, replace "parameter" with a word that is more precisely
understood. For example, try "perimeter" (the outer edge), "scope" (the
range of possibilities) or "boundary" (the limit of possibilities).
"Parameter" does have several precise technical meanings. In
mathematics, it is a constant in an equation, but a constant that can
have different numerical values. The value of that constant, in turn,
determines the equation's outcome. In statistics, "parameter" also means
a statistical measure of a total population.
Used metaphorically, "parameter" can mean an attribute that predicts
or defines the nature of the whole. This is a useful concept and might
be a writer's exact meaning. Too bad a reader can't be sure of it.
Mary Barnard Ray is a
legal writing lecturer and director of the Legal Writing Individualized
Instruction Services at the U.W. Law School. She has taught writing
workshops and offered individual sessions for law students; she also
taught advanced writing and commenting and con-ferencing techniques in
the training course for legal writing teaching assistants. She has
taught and spoken nationally at many seminars and conferences of legal
and college writing instructors. Her publications include two coauthored
legal writing books, Getting It Right and Getting It Written and Beyond
the Basics, published by West Publishing Co.
If you have a writing problem that you can't resolve, send your
question to Ms. Ray, c/o Wisconsin Lawyer, State Bar of Wisconsin, P.O.
Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158. Or, email your question. Your
question and Ms. Ray's response will be published in this
column.
Wisconsin
Lawyer