When you’re in the process of making bread, proofing is the final rise before it’s baked. If the dough isn’t allowed to proof, the yeast can’t release carbon dioxide, and the gluten won’t stretch. Just like bread, proofing copy is an essential stage that provides consistency and elevation. If copywriting hasn’t gone through the proofing process, it can be quite floppy – and no one wants flat copy (or bread!)
When you’ve been staring at copy for the last five hours and you’re tasked with the final draft, it’s surprisingly easy to make a mistake or two. We’re hardwired to generalise the inner workings of writing by turning words into sentences so that we can focus on combining sentences to form complex ideas.
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
This recent discovery, known as “typoglycemia”, shows that our brain observes what we expect to see. While this is an interesting study into our cognitive process, it’s frustrating when we’re on a mission to win over our boss or future employer.
These mistakes can stunt our growth and even cost us the job. According to CareerBuilder, 43% of hiring managers bin a candidate’s CV if it has spelling errors. Another survey showed that 79% of recruiters and human resource managers said spelling and grammatical mistakes were the biggest “deal breakers” in job hunting.
English language is a minefield; it’s easy to press the wrong key when we’re typing aawy (whoops!), and get a little confused with their, there and they’re. We have homophones that sound the same but have different meanings, and we have silent letters that camp out unnoticed.
To shine a light on these pesky intruders, here’s 10 of the most common spelling mistakes in the English language:
1. Accommodate
Common misspellings: acommodate, accomodate
2. Acknowledgment
Common misspelling: acknowledgement
3. Calendar
Common misspelling: calender
4. Colleague
Common misspellings: collaegue, collegue, coleague
5. Definitely
Common misspelling: defiantly
6. Liaison
Common misspelling: liasion
7. Maintenance
Common misspellings: maintainance, maintnance
8. Privilege
Common misspellings: privelege, priviledge
9. Recommend
Common misspellings: recomend, reccommend
10. Separate
Common misspelling: seperate
At the end of the day, we’re not robots with a built-in dictionary – but we know who is! The World Wide Web, a mutual friend of ours, is a pragmatic tool that can help keep mistakes at bay. While the copywriter’s bible, AKA the Thesaurus, can extend vocabulary, Grammarly offers suggestions on spelling, style, tone, and you guessed it – grammar. These are just a few of the ways you can up your proofing game, but when in doubt – give us a shout!
