proofreader

Feats of daring-do

Hannah McCall 8 Comments

Of course, this should be derring-do. But the misspelling is understandable given the meaning of the word and its origins.

https://pixabay.com/en/biker-motorcycle-stunt-man-person-384921/Derring-do is pleasantly archaic and often used humorously in modern writing.* It means actions showing heroic courage or feats of daring.

The word originated from the late Middle English dorryng do (meaning ‘daring to do’) being misprinted as derrynge do in the 16th-century editions of John Lydgate’s Chronicle of Troy.

The modern usage and spelling is usually most associated with Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.

*I would love to proofread a story where derring-do doesn’t look out of place. I am imagining pirates. Or an old-fashioned superhero.

‘Grisly’ or ‘grizzly’?

Hannah McCall 14 Comments

These two words have very different meanings. http://mrg.bz/btzvI8Often ‘grizzly’ is used when ‘grisly’ would be correct.

  • Grisly: gruesome, causing horror or disgust – ‘a grisly murder was discovered’.
  • Grizzly: grey or grey-haired. It can also be used to refer to a whining or crying child (from to grizzle) in British English. But you will probably see the word used most commonly to refer to a kind of bear – the grizzly bear.

‘Interned’ and ‘interred’

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

You could probably give your readers a little bit of an upset if you used ‘interred’ when you meant ‘interned’. Unless they really don’t like the character you are writing about – they might just be disappointed when they realise the mistake.http://mrg.bz/vgJ72h

  • Interned: imprisoned (particularly for political or military reasons). This also means you should use internment in this context.
  • Interred: buried (typically with funeral rites). And this should be interment.

These are words to keep in mind if you tend to accidentally hit the wrong keys as you type – the spellchecker won’t object to them and the difference (n/r) is easy to skim over when you check your writing.

‘Hoard’ or ‘horde’?

Hannah McCall 5 Comments

These two homophones are often confused.Treasure

  • A hoard is a stock or store (typically secret or guarded valuables) – ‘the dragon sleeps upon his hoard of gold coins’.
  • A horde is a large group or crowd (usually people and usually derogatory/disapproving) – ‘a horde of shoppers descended on the sale items’.

Ending a sentence with a preposition

Hannah McCall 16 Comments

Ending a sentence with a preposition is completely fine. Do it. You can cite the following sources to anyone who says you shouldn’t:*

  • For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man’s Quest for Grammatical Perfection, David Marsh
  • Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Jeremy Butterfield (editor)
  • Oxford A–Z of Grammar & Punctuation, John Seely
  • Oxford Guide to Plain English, Martin Cutts
  • Penguin Writer’s Manual, Martin Manser & Stephen Curtis
  • The Chicago Manual of Style

Sometimes sentences ending in prepositions should be rewritten because they lack impact or read badly, but they are not ‘wrong’. It is only in the most formal of contexts that placing a preposition before its object is a must. In fact, in some situations it is only appropriate for the preposition to come at the end of a clause or sentence (see Fowler’s for more on this).

Don’t ruin your writing trying to obey this ‘rule’. It is not a thing.

* Martin Cutts calls these people ‘fossils’. I couldn’t possibly comment …

Reading

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

I have a professional ‘About’ page, which you can find here, but I am also a real human being. I am going to express some of my real human self, starting with my relationship with reading.

Although I read as a job, I still retain my love of reading as a whole. In fact, I think my job has only increased my love of words – I have read some things that I never would have done otherwise, and they were fascinating, beautiful and enriching. Proofreading and reading are different techniques, and they are for different purposes, but I enjoy them both.

As a child I was always engrossed in a book (or two, or more). There are boxes and boxes of my books in the attic. I can’t bear to part with them. I am one of those people who can read in whole phrases or sentences at a time, not word by word. I was in the top percentage of every verbal reasoning test I did. Words make sense to me. They are a comfort and a wonderful challenge.

http://mrg.bz/XT9kBmHowever, there was a brief spell during my time at university where I could not bring myself to read for pleasure. I was reading to gain knowledge, to inform my essays, to prepare for exams, and it wore me down. I couldn’t find any joy in words anymore. This was especially true when I was reading about the terrible, horrible things that human beings do to other human beings.

I turned to television and to films for my stories. And while they are enjoyable mediums, they are not as deep and as engrossing as a book. I think that was part of why I embraced them. They didn’t have the same impact that written words did.

It took a while but reading has returned to being a joy for me. I try to read widely, and I am not a ‘book snob’. My current stack of books to read ranges from Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death to The Pilgrim’s Progress.

Proofing is not proofreading

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

I have noticed a tendency for the term ‘proofing’ to be used interchangeably with ‘proofreading’. I thought this might be a good opportunity to explain a little more about proofreading. In publishing terminology, ‘proofing’ means providing a proof. It is not another term for proofreading.

http://mrg.bz/f5d0NIOnce a typescript has been copy-edited and design instructions have been established, the marked-up typescript (copy) is sent to the typesetter. The typesetter then produces the proof. The proof is a way to ‘try out’ the typesetter’s work. It allows the material to be checked and corrected before the publication process moves any further.

A proofreader will read and correct this proof – proofreading.

The proofreader will typically check for any errors that have been introduced during typesetting (as well as those that may have made it through the copy-editing stage), ensure that the material has been presented as intended and without any poor outcomes (bad word breaks, widows and orphans, etc.), and make sure that any page references are correct. The proofreader’s job is to ensure consistency and accuracy, but the actual tasks undertaken may vary depending on the client’s requirements.

If you would like further information on what a proofreader does and does not do, the Society for Editors and Proofreaders has a handy page here.

‘Precede’ or ‘proceed’?

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

It is easy to get these two confused if you aren’t really concentrating or if you are distracted (perhaps by watching Daredevil, eating cake, or eating cake while watching Daredevil*).

However, the difference is fairly simple to understand:

  • To precede is to ‘go before’ (such as in time or order)
  • To proceed is to ‘go forward’ (or to ‘go ahead’)

If it helps, only proceed can be followed by to and another verb: He proceeded to eat my cake.

*I would never be distracted by this. I am a professional.

Source:

CV spelling mistakes

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

I was sat, bleary-eyed, reading the i (a British newspaper) this morning. In it, there was a list of the top ten CV spelling mistakes. The original source for the feature can be found here. Almost one-third of CVs contain at least one spelling error.

The number one most frequently misspelt word is responsibility, followed by liaise and university. The list doesn’t give examples of the incorrect spellings that were found in order to form the top ten.

There are some other examples of misspellings on the website, and I have had a look at what Microsoft Word makes of them. They are all subject to a red squiggly line or to automatic correction (apart from travelling – the spellchecker, my dictionary and I disagree with Adzuna: the legitimate British spelling is with two ls). My advice, therefore, is to make sure you take note of what your spellchecker is trying to tell you.

However, I wouldn’t rely on your spellchecker completely. It can tell you if the word is spelled incorrectly, but it can’t tell you if it is the appropriate word. It isn’t going to pick up on the correct usage of their or there, your or you’re, and its or it’s. It might not recognise the correct spelling of an unusual word. And I’m not even going to mention the poor grammatical suggestions spellchecker makes…

Make sure you are thorough when you read what you have written. Read for sense as well as for the errors. If the work is of importance, get someone else to look at it for you. When it is your own writing, it is hard to read what is there instead of what you expect to be there.

Your CV is of great importance. It is a potential employer’s first introduction to you. Take that extra time and make the extra effort. It’ll be worth it.