In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice.
Then he made proof-readers."
~~Mark Twain
I'm going to touch on a big grammar issue today--the human brain. Ever get frustrated that you've read your dang manuscript a bazillion times and still miss some mistakes? Some of my problem is I can't NOT edit, which just makes new typos.
When it comes to language, our clever human brains can be our antagonists. The following is my case in point:
Can you read this?
Olny srmat poelpe can.
cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
In one training I attended, we were told to read through the project three times looking for different things. An important key is giving it a break because reading something over and over can result in missing the obvious. If you go do something else or put it down for the night and come back to it fresh the next morning, stuff can jump right out at you that you'd have missed the day before. Checking for specific things, such as facts, numbers, dates, etc. rather than reading the entire project will often catch problems otherwise missed. I like reading it aloud. My hubby likes to be read to, so he's a great guinea pig and patient when I suddenly stop to fix something.
So are you one of people who can proof things flawlessly? Do you have any tricks that makes it easier?
