20 Proofreading Tips From Hemingway Hemingway wrote the end of ‘A Farewell to Arms’ thirty-nine times. Proofreading is not only about grammar and punctuation, but also content, style, and tone. Here are 20 tips and techniques to proofread your documents, blogs and emails.

1. 20 Proofreading Tips From
Hemingway
Hemingway wrote the end of ‘A Farewell to
Arms’ thirty-nine times.
Proofreading is not only about grammar
and punctuation, but also content, style,
and tone.
Here are 20 tips and techniques to
proofread your documents, blogs and
emails.
What is proofreading?
Proofreading is the difference between calling someone a manager and the
mange. It’s one letter. The spellchecker won’t (not wont) find it but others
will.
20 Proofreading Tips
Here’s a framework for proofing any kind of business document. Let me
know if this works for you and what you’d add.
1. 24 Hour Break – After you’ve finished writing, put it aside for one
day.
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2. Resist the urge to hit Publish when feeling the white heat of
inspiration. Instead, cool down, give yourself some distance and look
at in the morning. You’ll be glad you did. It’s easy to confuse affect
and effect, currently and momentarily and other subtle beauties.
2. Print it – Then find a quiet place where you can edit the document
slowly. Notice how you see things on the written page that you missed
on the screen.
Your (not you’re) eye will catch these when printed. If this isn’t
practical for all documents, at least print out those that must be
checked thoroughly. Some documents are more important than
others!
3. Increase the Onscreen Font Size – Don’t have time to print it out
or don’t have a printer? Workaround. Increase the point size or use
the zoom tool to make the text easier to read. Another trick is to use a
non-standard font. This forces you to slooooow down and read more
carefully.
4. Facts – Assume all facts are wrong. Double check every fact on the
page – it’s your name that goes on the byline. Likewise, check
percentages carefully. Did you really mean he got a 200% payrise or
was it 20%? Also, be careful with dates. Don’t write Tuesday, May the
7th when May the seventh is actually Thursday. Spellcheckers don’t
find these mistakes.
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3. 5. Headers and Footers – If you’re using an internal company
template, make sure to change the default settings in the header and
footer. Also check that they don’t refer to the previous document, i.e.
if you’ve went File, Save As to save time.
6. Document Properties – Change the File, Properties if you’re
sending a MS Word document. Otherwise the setting will show the
previous document’s details. Also captured during PDF conversion.
7. Read Backwards – Don’t start on line one, page one. Start at the
very end and, using a ruler, work your way back to the top. This forces
you to pay attention and stop momentums.
8. Use a wooden ruler – Put it under each line as you read. Again,
this forces you to pay attention and stop your eyes jumping ahead.
9. Look for Gaps – Check for the most obvious piece of information
and see if it’s there. For example, have you included the date on an
invitation? Have you mentioned the name of the site and included a
link? Have you included the person’s job title. Have you dated the
press release?
10. Achilles Heel – We all have problem areas when it comes to editing.
Create a list of those that trip you up. Print it out. Put it on the wall.
Check this after you’ve completed the first round of edits.
Congratulate yourself when you find one.
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4. That’s what it’s there for!
11. Read it aloud – Maybe not in the office but book a meeting room,
print out the document and read it aloud. Your ear will pick up where
the tone is wrong, transitions that don’t work, and sections that need
to be revised.
12. One problem at a time – Don’t try to proofread the entire
document in one go. Instead, proof it several times. Each time focus
on a different area. For example, check the spelling, then grammar,
then format, then tone, then facts and so on.
13. Use proofreading checklists – I know editors that keep checklists
next to their desks and use them when proofing documents. Why?
Nine times out of ten, you’ll catch all the mistakes. But, when you’re
working late, under pressure, feeling unwell or stressed out… it’s hard
to think clearly.
Checklists are there to remind you what you’d usually remember to
check but may overlook when stressed. Don’t let pride undermine
your efforts.
14. Get Help – Proofing your own work is a recipe for dysentery, sorry
disaster. Phew! Ask someone else to review it for you. Don’t just hand
it to them. Get them started by saying, for example, ‘I’m not sure if I
covered all the angles. What’s do you think I missed?’ They’ll tell you
and catch a few gremlins in the process.
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5. 15. Proofreading Spelling Mistakes
There are three problems here.
■ One is that something may be spelt incorrectly. Easy to fix.
■ The second is when it’s spelt (or is it spelled) correctly but used in the
wrong content.
■ A third is when foreign words enter your text unawares, usually when
copy and pasting.
Unless your spellchecker is setup correctly, it won’t catch it.
Some repeat offenders include:
■ their (possessive form of they); there (place); they’re (contraction).
■ accept (verb, meaning to receive or to admit to a group) instead of
except (usually a preposition, meaning but or only)
■ who’s (contraction) v whose (possessive form of who)
■ its (possessive form of it) v it’s (contraction of it is or it has)
■ affect (verb, meaning to influence) v effect (noun, meaning result)
16. Punctuation
You’ve probably read the book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Adding or deleting
a comma in the wrong place changes the meaning of a sentence.
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6. Use a comma to:
■ Signal a pause between the start and main part of the sentence.
■ Join two independent sentences with a conjunction (for, and, nor,
but, or, yet, so).
■ Signal the presence of a nonrestrictive element.
■ Separate the items in a series.
17. Apostrophes
Apostrophes are the glue that tags one word onto another. He’s, it’s, user’s,
school’s and so on.
Apostrophes show that one thing belongs to another. It’s also used to
contract words. This allows us to compress cannot into can’t… but not cant,
which is a different word.
18 & 19. Active and Passive Verbs
Nothing wrong with active or passive verbs. Each have their own place.
However, be careful when you use this construction.
■ In active voice, the subject performs the action of the verb
■ In passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.
If you want to avoid naming someone or something, then use the passive
verb.
For example, ‘the car was crashed by a member of government.’
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7. …is softer than, ‘a member of government crashed the car.’
20. Misplaced or Dangling Modifiers
One way to proofread misplaced or dangling modifiers is to highlight them
with a pen.
Then connect them to the word they’re describing. This helps you track
which is the correct word (i.e. being modified).
To fix this, move the misplaced modifier closer to the word it describes.
Conclusion
In proofreading, take nothing for granted. Unconscious mistakes are easy
to make, especially when proofing what you’ve wrote.
Reading aloud forces you to slow down and hear the words as well as see
them. Two senses are better than one!
Finally, it’s twice as hard to find mistakes in your own work as in someone
else’s – so assume that there are mistakes in there.
Now go hunt them down!
What else would you add? What’s the one thing that trips you up when
proofing your documents?
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8. About Ivan Walsh
Got a question about improving your business? Contact me on Google Plus,
@KlaritiDotCom, or Facebook
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