Whatever the reason for a typo, the truth is it promotes a bad reputation. And it’s an easy situation to resolve if you know how to do it. Here are ten easy and effective tips for getting rid of written mistakes forever.

Proofread your work

This may sound obvious, because it is, but the vast majority of mistakes come about simply because people do not take the time to actually re-read what they have written. A good number of mistakes can be identified and corrected just by proofreading. There’s no excuse.

Get someone else to proofread your work (a second pair of eyes)

Sometimes you can just benefit from another person reading through your work. Obviously if you trust this person to be competent and thorough then even better. It’s amazing what a second pair of eyes can spot in terms of grammar mistakes, spelling errors, punctuation faux pas and general readability.

Come back to it a little later

Rushing is usually the reason for many of the typical mistakes made. Often the best approach is to write something, leave it aside for a little while, and then come back to it and read it with a fresh focus.

Read your work aloud

It might sound right in your head, but the real test is whether it sounds right when you read it aloud. Let those words hang in the air and use your ears to decide if you have truly conveyed what you wanted to say. Those errors will pop out at you too.

Read it in a different format (device or print it)

Take the words off the screen by printing your writing out and making corrections that way. Or even read it on a different device or even in a different font. Change it up to really spot those deep-down errors

Proofread separately for different kinds of mistakes

Take the time to proofread several times for a different style of mistake or error each time. The first time concentrate on the general readability of your content. The second time start paying attention to spelling. The third time consider punctuation, and so on. By categorizing the mistakes and proofreading separately each time you greatly increase the chance of cutting out all those errors.

Make a list of your common errors (and so know what to look for)

This should be a continual learning process. If you do this right, and you pay attention, then it should be easier for you to write written content that contains less mistakes in the future than it is now. If it isn’t, then you are simply not learning. And saying that you don’t have the right tool is beside the point – it’s your writing.

The first thing to do is identify and categorize the types of mistakes you are making. So, for example, once you have noticed (or someone has pointed out) that you are using ‘their’ when you should be used ‘there’, then this automatically becomes a mistake that you check for when you are proofreading. Awareness of the problem is the first step to success in the future.

Use a reliable spellchecker

There are some incredible tools out there that can automatically check your spelling, grammar and even style (in terms of whether it’s suitable to your chosen audience). A smart, intuitive tool such as Linguix allows you to pre-set parameters in terms of the style and tone you want to achieve, and then evaluates mistakes in that context. That’s far more than a spellchecker.

Check definitions

Are you completely comfortable with the actual words that you are using? Do you know the definitions of those words? Having easy access to definitions not only allows you to cherry-pick the perfect word for the occasion but allows a level of learning as you write, making you a better wordsmith for the future. It’s not just about producing error-free content but growing into the task. The Linguix definitions tool, which allows you to access definitions simply by hovering over the word in question, can facilitate your growth as a writer.

Learn and use synonyms

Another aspect to writing well is not repeating yourself. Having access to synonyms means you can add variety to your writing and again cherry-pick the most suitable word for the occasion. With Linguix you get access to a large bank of synonyms for any given word, once again facilitating your growth as a writer through widening your own vocabulary bank. 

Did you know that the last three tips offered here – using a reliable spelling or grammar checker, checking definitions, and learning and using synonyms, can all be solved by utilizing one convenient tool. Linguix is an AI-driven writing assistant that goes far beyond a grammar and spellchecking service (which it also does to a great standard).

Easily get definitions and synonyms of every word that you click on and even avail of a readability score for your written content. A host of other statistics will let you know, among other things, the average length of your sentences, the time it will take to read your content and the suitability of your content to a pre-defined audience.

You can also download the Linguix extension for Chrome, Firefox or Edge and then avail of the grammar and spellchecking tool on millions of your favorite websites and apps – corrections are offered as you type directly on the web. 

The solution to your writing mistakes is at hand.

The post 10 Easy Tips to Help You Solve Your Writing Mistakes Forever appeared first on Linguix Blog.

There are spelling rules in English, but they are frequently broken. And irregular versions can be more common than their regular alternatives. It’s a bit of a nightmare for everybody. But that’s just the way it is, unfortunately.

The difficulty of English spelling is one of the main reasons why so much time is spent on spelling when kids are at school. Usually every week there is a spelling test to be had. And of course there are spelling bees – popular contests where kids compete to become spelling champions – all over the place, particularly in the United States.

So, what are the ten hardest words to spell in English? Well, no list can be definitive, but those included here are certainly among the most frustrating. And you’ll notice that some of these words are not even that complicated, but it doesn’t change the fact that people still regularly misspell them!

Their

It’s ‘e’ and then ‘I’ – so many people have problems remembering that combination. Fortunately, spellcheck services, such as the one offered by Linguix, can fix that mistake automatically for you. And it’s definitely not ‘there’, or ‘they’re’ – they are a totally different word.

Think of all the other words that have this combination of letters.

‘weird’

‘foreign’ (with the added pain of a silent ‘g’)

‘leisure’ (which is also pronounced completely differently in Britain, compared to the United States)

Believe it or not, there is an even a rhyme that is taught at school to help with spelling this combination. It goes like this:

‘’i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’.’

Except in ‘their’, ‘weird’, ‘foreign’, and ‘leisure’, of course!

At least the rhyme works in the word ‘receipt’! But then it’s got that ‘p’!

English, huh?!

Embarrassment

So how many ‘r’s and how many ‘s’s? It’s actually two of both, but you will see so many other combinations it would make you laugh, or cry!

Double letters always cause a problem when spelling in English. Speaking of which…

Misspell

How ironic that the word ‘misspell’ is so easy to misspell. Once again, it’s the double letters that cause the problem.

A little trick that helps here is remembering that the prefix is ‘mis’, and the word is spell. Add them together and of course you will have two ‘s’s. Hope that helps!

Calendar

Along with the ‘I + e’ combination, and double letters, knowing if a word should be spelled with an ‘a’ or an ‘e’ is a nightmare in English. Don’t think about the pronunciation, because that won’t help either.

Calendar is a typically example, because most people think that final ‘a’ should be an ‘e’. Because it sounds like one when you say the word. But it isn’t!

English, huh?!

Affect / effect

So many people get these words confused, mostly because we pronounce them the same way. However, ‘affect’ is the verb, and ‘effect’ is the noun. So…

“The budget of a movie seriously affects the quality of the special effects.”

That little sentence should help you remember the difference.

And why not use an online tool such as Linguix, which can give you the definition of the word with a simple click of the mouse. In that way, you’ll be sure to use the correct word in context.

Playwright

Shakespeare was a playwright, because he was a man who wrote plays. But shouldn’t that then mean that he was a play + write? Nope, because in old English, a ‘wright’ was a word which meant worker, so a cartwright was someone who built or fixed carts, for example.

Hence, playwright!

English, huh?!

Pronunciation

Another ironic word, because you may be able to pronounce it (notice the added ‘o’), but you won’t be able to spell the word pronunciation (wait, what happened to that ‘o’?)

Rhythm

When you get a word that doesn’t have any vowels, you have a real recipe for disaster. But where most people are okay with ‘gypsy’, the word ‘rhythm’ causes many more problems. There is no ‘e’!

Separate

We are back to our old friends ‘a’ and ‘e’ again. Remember ‘calendar’, well now meet ‘separate’! That middle vowel is an ‘a’, not an ‘e’. Don’t try saying the word again, it’s not going to help you!

Until / till

The formal word ‘until’ has only one ‘l’, but the shortened form ‘till’, which is also acceptable to use, has two ‘l’s.

‘Why?’

That is a question you never, ever ask about English spelling!

The post The Top 10 Nightmare Words to Spell in English (Even for Native Speakers!) appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Hint: you can use our free online grammar check tool or paraphrasing app to fight those grammar issues.

1. conscience (Wrong: conscence)

First of all, remember that conscience is a noun denoting a person’s “inner feeling acting as a guide to rightness or wrongness of the behavior.” It is not conscious, an adjective, meaning that the person is awake and able to respond to surroundings. To write ‘conscience’ right, remember to put a ‘science’ inside this word as well.

2. maintenance (maintainence)

The tricky part here is that the word ‘maintenance’ which often directly connecting to maintaining something, does not have the ‘maintain’ part in it.

3. recommend (reccommend, reccomend)

Words with doubled letters are often hard to spell and write because it may be unclear what letter to double. In this word, you may have the feeling that ‘c’ is worthy of duplicating, however, this is wrong.

4. deductible (deductable)

Another confusing thing in English is -ible/-able twist. It is so easy to confuse the endings in such words, and you’d better be very careful with them. In this example, the word ‘deductible’ has ‘i’ inside it.

5. weird (wierd)

The word that breaks the spelling rule (‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’) which is totally weird, but you have to accept it.

6. accommodate (acommodate, accomodate)

Again, doubled letters are confusing. In this particular word, however, you can solve this puzzle by remembering that the word ‘accommodate’ literally ‘accommodates’ a lot of letters.

7. pronunciation (pronounciation)

Here the source of the mistakes lays in the fact that the verb form of this word is ‘pronounce’. But the noun does not have an ‘o’ in the middle! You need to remember it.

8. supersede (supercede)

This word has a Latin origin. Also, many words in Engish were influenced by words like ‘intercede’, so you may think this one belongs to this group. It is not, and you should use ‘s’ instead of ‘c’ in the end.

9. handkerchief (hankerchief)

To spell and write this word right, you need to remember that these pieces of cloth fit in one’s hand! So there is a letter ‘d’ inside it.

10. rhythm (rythm)

The word with only one vowel should be tricky, and it is! Things get even more complicated with a couple of h’s which are spread throughout the word.

11. embarrass (embarass, embaress)

Here we have a good-old double letter puzzle! Also, vowels in this word are also tricky.

12. liaison (liason)

You can easily spot French roots in this word thanks to this amazingly hard to spell triple vowel!

The post 12 Confusing English Words And How To Spell Them Right appeared first on Linguix Blog.