Language Errors?

Before diving into common writing “mistakes,” it’s important to put this idea in context. There is no such thing as a language “error.” Unlike math, language can’t be right and wrong; “3×5=16” is not the same as “Between you and I” (which technically “should” be “between you and me”). Language has different patterns and practices depending on the time, place, and rhetorical context. In fact, “Between you and I” was perfectly acceptable when Shakespeare wrote it (Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 2), just as “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and “Somebody That I Used to Know” make for better song titles than “What Does Love Have To Do With It” and “Somebody Whom I Used to Know.” In other words, writing “mistakes” are only mistakes depending on who’s reading and what they’re reading for.

Writing expert Joseph M. Williams made this point in an essay about the way English teachers read papers. “The point is this,” he writes.

We can discuss error in two ways: we can discuss it at a level of consciousness that places that error at the very center of our consciousness. Or we can talk about how we experience (or not) what we popularly call errors of usage as they occur in the ordinary course of our reading a text. (159)

According to Williams, error tends to be “at the very center of [teachers’] consciousness” when they correct students’ papers, since they’re trying to help students become better writers. Red pen in hand, teachers are on the lookout for deviations from the patterns of “correct” English. In other contexts, though, those same errors can slip through unnoticed. To hammer his point home, Williams reveals at the end of the essay that he deliberately made around 100 errors of usage in the course of the essay. The English teachers reading his essay, he claims, will probably have missed most of them, since they’re reading with a different set of expectations than when they read a student’s composition.

According to researchers, one of the places where grammar and spelling matter is on dating apps!

The point of all of this is that writing “mistakes” don’t matter except when they matter. That is, they matter when the person reading your words might be paying attention to the way you adhere or deviate from the language patterns appropriate to the rhetorical situation. In most cases, academic writing is a rhetorical situation in which “correct” grammar, spelling, and tone are expected. The same is true for job cover letters and resumes, where the hiring manager wants to see conscientiousness and attention to detail. Proper grammar and spelling seems to matter in online dating profiles as well. (Van der Zanden)

If you’re in a situation—like writing an essay for a class—in which you want to eliminate as many errors as possible, targeted proofreading is your best bet for doing so. In order to put error “at the very center of [your] consciousness,” you have to trick your mind into reading your words in a new and different way. Many writers find it easy to skim through their work and find minimal errors because they are the ones who wrote it. In order to proofread for grammatical, punctuation, citation, and other common errors near the end of a project, you need to proceed strategically. Many of the strategies below are intended to make your all-too-familiar text feel unfamiliar.

Take a Break

One of the best revision strategies is to turn off the computer and walk away for a while. When you come back to it, you’ll have fresh perspective and be better able to see parts of your writing that need improvement.

The best way to start the proofreading process is to close the computer or put down the pen and paper for several hours or overnight, and come back to it a little later. This distance allows you to detach emotionally from the writing and lets you return to it with fresh eyes (Katz 13).

Though sometimes you may be close to the deadline, it is important to set aside some amount of time, ideally overnight or several hours, to do other activities, not think about the paper, and simply detach from the piece of writing. After the break is complete, you should read the paper slowly, deliberately, and thoroughly, focusing on careless spelling errors, point of view slips, citation errors, and other grammatical errors, such as comma misuse (see the next page).

Returning to the paper gives a fresh perspective that allows you to see imperfections more clearly or realize that parts of the writing they thought were flawless may actually need work.

Read Aloud

Reading your work aloud can help you find errors that your mind skips over when reading silently.

Whether you’re short on time or not, it can be very helpful to read your writing out loud. Many times when reading a piece of writing that is familiar, the mind tends to fill in gaps, put words where they are missing, and correct tone automatically. However, when you speak the words out loud, it becomes apparent where words are missing or repeated, or where gaps are present, and it is also a helpful tool in finding grammatical errors.

Reading, in general, slows the mind down and forces a writer to hear where natural breaks occur. Though a natural pause does not always indicate that punctuation is needed, it is a good way to check for possible grammatical errors.

In addition, it can help you hear potential sentence structure issues. Sometimes, sentences can become complex or difficult as they move from mind to paper. However, naturally, a writer will make the sentence work because they know what they want to say. When forced to read it out loud, it will become clear that it needs to be restructured so that it is clear to a reader. Simple, clear diction and structure are key for reader comprehension.

Reverse Reading

Reading in reverse (from the last sentence to the first) can help find small grammatical and structural errors.

After a break and reading out loud, many errors will be found naturally. However, sometimes writers still need to break down the paper on a structural level to stop the natural flow of thoughts and point out further errors. When reading a paper from start to finish, especially one that is familiar, writers know where it is heading and tend to read quickly and inadvertently skim over errors. Starting from the end of a paper breaks this natural flow and points out errors that can be missed otherwise.

Start at the end of the essay, the final sentence, and read that sentence. Check for grammatical errors, structural errors, point of view issues, and any citation possibilities. Correct the errors, and move up to the second to last sentence. Repeat and continue through the paper to the very first sentence. This breaks the flow created in a writer’s mind and allows each sentence to be seen for what it actually is.