Get rid of red squiggles before you take your screenshot.

πŸ“’ Recently, a mayor’s open letter was shared on social media. The letter was shared as an image, not a Word doc/PDF. It looks like a screenshot taken at the mayor’s computer. I reckon the mayor’s computer was set to US English but he wanted to write in British English. Word had done its usualContinue reading “Get rid of red squiggles before you take your screenshot.”

Is it stationary or stationery?

βœ… You’re a stationery addict… if you’re addicted to buying pens, notebooks, etc. ❌ If you were a stationary addict, you’d be addicted to standing still. πŸ—½πŸ˜† πŸ’‘ The way I remember it is E for envelopes. StationEry.

How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?

πŸ€“ I enjoyed the maths! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. πŸ”Ž I’ve recently proofread ‘The Nick Warner Chronicles Vol II’, an adventure-filled Bildungsroman about the life of a maths genius. Nick navigates tricky life circumstances by applying maths. πŸ”Ž As part of the edit, I checked every hypothesis, theory, concept and formula,Continue reading “How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?”

Where should capital letters go in titles?

πŸ“ So you’ve written a contents page. A leaflet. A blog post. An essay. And you’ve used a series of headings. ❓ The question is – should you capitalise the words in your headings? And, if so, how? πŸ“’ The answer is that there is more than one way to approach this. There are individualContinue reading “Where should capital letters go in titles?”

Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.

πŸ˜‹ I proofread some menus today and they made me so hungry! They were Indian menus of dishes prepared for special occasions. If I hadn’t already sorted a shepherd’s pie for tea then I definitely would have ordered a takeaway tonight. Though it’s probably best I didn’t as it wouldn’t have lived up to theContinue reading “Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.”

May 12th 2020. Fantasy novel: top proofreading spots.

πŸ”Ž Today’s top #proofreading spots from a fantasy novel. ❌ The tower rose in the distance, its height all the more impressiveness from her vantage point ➑️ impressive βœ… ❌ The creature’s wings billowed and caught on an updraft ➑️ updraught βœ… πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ ❌ Mystical plains ➑️ planes βœ… ❌ A minute or slater ➑️Continue reading “May 12th 2020. Fantasy novel: top proofreading spots.”

Is it immanent or imminent? Top proofreading spot.

πŸ”Ž Most satisfying #proofreading spot of the day: Immanent ➑️ imminent β›” Microsoft Word’s spellcheck did not recognise ‘immanent’ as being incorrect. Why not? πŸ’‘ Because ‘immanent’ is a word. It means “existing or operating within; inherent” (Google Dictionary definition). But the author of this #gamelit novel wanted ‘imminent’ as in “about to happen”. That’sContinue reading “Is it immanent or imminent? Top proofreading spot.”

March 23rd 2020. Puzzle book: top proofreading spots.

πŸ”Ž Today’s #proofreading spots are from a fascinating project I’ve been working on: a lateral-thinking puzzle disguised as a furniture catalogue. Errors shared with permission. ❌ inhance ➑️ enhance βœ… ❌ metalllic ➑️ metallic βœ… ❌ ubiqitous ➑️ ubiquitous βœ… ❌ fascimile ➑️ facsimile βœ… ❌ seperately ➑️ separately βœ… Problems like this can occurContinue reading “March 23rd 2020. Puzzle book: top proofreading spots.”

Should mum be capitalised? Should university be capitalised?

πŸ”Ž Mum or mum? University or university? In the manuscript I returned this weekend, one issue was the misplacement of capital letters in nouns such as the ones above. My client often opted for the uppercase option but that wasn’t always the correct call. β–ͺ️Keeping mum Whether to use uppercase or lowercase depends on whetherContinue reading “Should mum be capitalised? Should university be capitalised?”

How can I proofread without missing errors?

When I’m proofreading… πŸ‘‡ πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡ πŸ‘‡  πŸ‘‡    πŸ‘‡ I read like a small child. πŸ—£οΈ I read the words aloud. 🐒I read them slowly. πŸ‘†I follow along with my finger. I find this particularly helpful when reading sentences with a lot of two/three letter words in them. Our eyes can gloss over these allContinue reading “How can I proofread without missing errors?”