A New Twist on Proofreading

Posted: October 09, 2013

[caption id="attachment_11592" align="alignright" width="400"]© vege - Fotolia.com[/caption]Errors sneak into copy all the time, especially when proofreading is done in a hurry. A great trick to catch mistakes, that spell check might miss, is reading the copy out loud. Some popular Microsoft programs, that you might already have, offer a tool to read your copy to you.

Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, founder of Syntax Training in Seattle, Washington, and a fan of business writing explains proofreading by listening.

Proofreading by Listening: Text-to-Speech

When it comes to proofreading, many people recommend reading aloud what you have written. That technique often works well. But to be successful using it, you must read what is on the page or screen--not what should be there. Reading what is actually there is challenging because you know what you intended.

You can use Microsoft's Text-to-Speech feature to read your text aloud for you. It doesn't read what you meant to type--only what is on the screen, so it may help you catch errors that you and your grammar and spelling checker overlook.

Here is how to add the Text-to-Speech feature to your Word and Outlook toolbar in Office 2010:

1. Open Word or a new Outlook email.

2. Next to the Quick Access Toolbar (on my screen, it is a small toolbar in the upper left corner), click the down arrow, which opens the Customize Quick Access Toolbar dropdown menu.

3. Click More Commands.

4. In the box labeled Choose commands from, click All Commands.

Read the entire article Proofreading by Listening: Text-to-Speech, at Business Writing.