Quote:
Originally Posted by BarbC
In the olden days when I was a legal secretary, we "proofed" property descriptions by reading them backwards with someone else. When you read forwards, your brain naturally fills in the gaps.
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There is a reading test somewhere on the internet where almost every word is misspelt or doesn't make sense. You can read it because the human eye sees mainly the first and last letters and places the missing ones where they belong.
I have difficulty in proofreading on a computer screen. When I was writing magazine articles I would print them out and get my then wife to proof read them for me.\
A book I recently published looked "right" but it wasn't until I got some printed copies and had a chance to read one (several weeks later) that I found formatting and spelling mistakes. I was so embarrassed that some of these copies had been sold. (The e-version is even worse due to formatting issues).
Having said all that I still get frustrated at news articles with the wrong word, spelling mistakes and bad grammar. That is what copy editors are for.