Proofreading Tips

Even the best authors make mistakes; however, our 5-star quality tier is advertised as nearly flawless. This makes proofreading absolutely essential for our 5-star authors. If you take this lesson to heart, you will have a greater chance of submitting 5-star quality work.

Use a Word Processing Program

It is highly recommended that you use word processing programs for surface-level proofreading. Applications like Grammarly and Microsoft Word are great at picking out misspelled words, typos and much more. However, A.I. is not perfect; the English language has many nuances that a computer cannot pick up. These applications may even suggest edits that are incorrect.

Read With Fresh Eyes

After staring at a bright screen and small letters for hours, our eyes can often become rather jaded to the words we are reading. Sometimes, it helps to leave the computer for an hour or so before proofreading. With fresh eyes, the typos and errors will be easier to spot.

Read Out Loud

If you read a sentence out loud, any awkwardness the sentence may contain will become more apparent. If you are able, you can even have a friend read the sentence out loud to you.

Look for “Flag” Words

“Flag” words are words that commonly have grammatical rules related to them. Pay close attention to these words while you are proofreading.

Coordinating conjunctions:

Each time you see a coordinating conjunction, double-check the clauses on both sides of the conjunction. If they are independent, use a comma before the conjunction. If they are not, don’t use a comma. You can remember these words with the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.

Subordinating conjunctions:

We discussed these words earlier in the training course. Once you are familiar with them, they will jump out at you. Then, you can punctuate those adverbial clauses correctly.

Conjunctive adverbs:

Conjunctive adverbs are words that can be used to join two independent clauses together. In these sentence structures, a semicolon comes before the conjunctive adverb and a comma comes after. Here is a list of common conjunctive adverbs: also, however, otherwise, consequently, indeed, similarly, finally, likewise, then, furthermore, moreover, therefore, hence, nevertheless, thus and nonetheless.

Other words:

• If:
  When a sentence begins with “if,” a comma must always go before “then.” If the sentence begins with “If” but does not contain “then,” speculate where the “then” would logically fall and place your comma there.

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  Not only:
  “Not only… but” is a correlative conjunction and must be used as a pair. If both clauses around “but” are independent, use a comma before “but.” If the second clause is dependent, don’t use a comma. The “but” cannot be omitted from this construction; this could result in a comma splice or a fused sentence.

•  
  Which:
  “Which” is indicative of a nonessential clause, which is set off by a comma. If the clause is meant to be essential, change the word “which” to “that” or “who.”

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  So:
  Besides being a coordinating conjunction, there is a significant difference between “so” and “so that.” “So” as a coordinating conjunction means “therefore”; “so that” means “in order that”.
  Examples:
  “We’re done shopping, so we can all go home.”
  “Let’s finish up so that we can all go home.”
  Please note the difference in comma usage. We often see authors who want to use “so that” omit the “that.” This is incorrect.

Keep Your Notes Nearby

Save any feedback you get from our editors in a document. Make notes of various grammar rules that you learn. Keep this document open while you write. By keeping these notes and having them close by, you can revisit any grammar rules when you are struggling with your sentence structures.

Search Engines Are Your Friend

If you stumble across a grammatical issue that has you second-guessing yourself, don’t just guess; see if Google has any answers. However, be careful with where you get your information. Make sure you are using reputable sources. Grammar Girl and the OWL at Purdue are two of our favorites.