9 Spelling and Grammar Mistakes Spell Check Won’t Catch There are some human errors that only humans can catch. BY MEGHAN JONES

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9 Spelling and Grammar Mistakes Spell Check Won’t Catch

There are some human errors that only humans can catch.

BY MEGHAN JONES

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKYes, you're only human, and humans make typos (here are some of our all-time favorites). But one little error might be all it takes to lower your grade on that term paper, or to ruin your resume. As tempting as it may be to rely on spell check to catch all of your goofs, the tool has its limits, and it can't play the role of a careful pair of proofreading eyes. Humans make errors, sure—but in these nine cases, they can also fix them way more effectively than a computer can.

The wrong word

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKSpell check does just that: catches words that are spelled wrong. But if you write the wrong word altogether, spell check won't save you if that word is spelled correctly. If you type "their" instead of "there," "you're" instead of "your," or, like this poor woman, "manure" instead of "mature," it's up to you to correct the error.

 

The wrong name

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKIf you frequently have to compose the same email or message to several different people, it can be tempting to copy and paste the entire message. But never do that without reading over the message first. If it says "Dear Steve" but you're writing to Julie...well, that's just plain embarrassing—not to mention, if Julie is a potential employer, it could cost you the job offer. "Typos" actually tops our list of resume mistakes that could ruin your application.

What's missing?

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKThe good news is that, if you miss a single letter by mistake, spell check will catch it. (Unless, of course, it's still a word without the missing letter—"public" vs. "pubic," anyone?) But it's also all too easy to skip a whole word, especially if the word is tiny and you're typing really fast. While a missing "a" or "the" won't completely alter the meaning of your sentence, it'll still give your readers pause, and it can make you look lazy or sloppy. Learn about the keyboard invention two college kids created to eliminate errors like these.

Compound words

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKIf you're confused about whether something is one or two words, trusting spell check will only make matters more confusing. For instance, "everyday" and "every day" have pretty different meanings. So do "altogether" and "all together." But they're both spell check-approved, even if you're using one where you should be using the other.

Punctuation errors

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKSpell check clearly needs to get its priorities straight; punctuation can save lives, and yet spell check won't flag that missing comma. Nor will it save you if you use "it's" instead of "its." Apostrophes are one of the most common, and most noticeable, culprits of punctuation errors—here are 8 tips on how to use them correctly.

Redundant redundancy

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKIf you've made a lot of changes to whatever you're writing—a school paper, for instance—you've probably rearranged paragraphs and sentences here and there. All it takes is one copy-and-paste error to have the same sentence (or even whole paragraph) in two different spots in your essay, email, or blog post. And while spell check will catch the mistake if you accidentally type the same word twice, it won't catch a repeated sentence. Learn the secrets of straight-A students.

Verb tenses

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKIf you switch into past tense while you're using present, or just type the wrong verb form by mistake, it's up to you to catch the offending verb. By the way, did you hear what happened when the past, present, and future walked into a bar?

Formatting errors

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKRaise your hand if you've ever accidentally hit the caps lock button. Yeah, us too. While it's one of the easiest errors for you (or your readers!) to catch, spell check won't alert you to a change in formatting, whether it's accidental caps lock, bold, or italics. Whether accidental or intentional, the use of all caps can definitely be off-putting for your readers, especially in an email.

Speaking of caps lock...

TATIANA AYAZO /RD.COM,SHUTTERSTOCKEven if you misspell a word, spell check won't catch it if the word is in all caps; this is to spare you a barrage of red squiggles if you frequently type acronyms. (Did you know these 31 names have been acronyms this whole time?) But the flip side is that it doesn't help you if your fingers slip up while you're typing a regular old word in all caps, like a title or a heading. Think you're an expert speller? Try this super frustrating spelling test from 1974.  [Source: howtospell.co.uk]