Study of "Spell check" results predictable

[osprey4]

A study of word-processor based spell checkers found that people with good vocabulary skills did worse at identifying errors when they relied on spell checkers.

Pretty much what you would have expected. Turning off the spell checker makes you a better writer.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/0....ap/index.html

Don't even get me started on the subject of grammar checking.

[Theophylact]

And people with poor verbal skills didn't improve.

This is a good site for epidemic to peruse.

[Theophylact]

Nevertheless, a spell-checker is great for finding some things that the human eye is poor at: doubled words, especially when they straddle a page break, and failure to put in a space after a comma or semicolon.

Proofread first. Then do a final spell-check.

[osprey4]

Theophylact, you impress me as someone who could just turn his spell checker off.

[M_Six]

Turning off the spell checker makes you a better writer.

I could not disagree more. I see an incredible amount of misspelling everywhere. I would like to see a much more widespread use of spellcheckers. Proofreading is a lost art.

There was an editorial in UIUC's student paper, The Daily Illini, this week where an editor was ranting about some nonsense. She actually referred to herself as a "pubic" editor instead of a "public" editor. True, that faux pas would not have been caught by a spellchecker, but many other misspellings I see on a daily basis would have. And considering the job of an editor is to catch such slips... Spellcheckers shouldn't be the last line of defense, though. Read what you've written carefully, and if you find an error, correct it.

I have a shortcut to Dictionary.com to double-check words when I'm not sure of the correct spelling or usage. A persons arguments will come across as being far more convincing when his or her grammar and spelling aren't a mess.

[Epidemic]

AAAAA finkle farts.

Spelling should be the way you want it to be. Spelling is only good for snooty people to disregard the spellingly challenged idea's.