Larry F. Owens, Certified Professional Proofreader

Why Do You Need a Proofreader?

You already have software that checks your spelling and grammar.

So, why on Earth would you give money to someone like me to proofread your spelling and grammar?!

Spell-Checking

Your spell-checker won’t stop you from using the wrong word.

Sure, you and I both know the difference between “they’re,” “there,” and “their.” But it’s easy to type the wrong one, and as far as your spell-checker is concerned, any of the three is correct for any situation. There are so many words that your spell-checker will let slip right through: to/too/two, affect/effect, then/than, buy/by/bye, it’s/its… the list goes on.

Did you mistype someone’s name after typing it correctly multiple times, or did you accidentally use the wrong name for an individual or business? Your spell-checker won’t catch it.

There are so many things spell-checkers can do—but there are even more things they can’t do.

Grammar-Checking

Your grammar-checker is great, but it doesn’t catch everything. Often, it will even give you incorrect suggestions.

Did you make a typo, using “he” instead of “she”? Your grammar-checker doesn’t care about using the wrong pronouns.

Did you forget to indent a paragraph or forget to center a heading? Most grammar-checking software doesn’t even check for problems like this.

Is your writing complex, academic, or specialized? The tougher it gets, the more grammar-checkers miss—and the more they try to mislead you.

Professional Proofreading

The final exam I passed to obtain my proofreading certification was run through two leading AI spelling- and grammar-checking programs to see how they would do.

ChatGPT4 failed the final exam. Not only did it miss several errors, but it also made corrections that weren’t necessary.

PerfectIt missed most of the errors—even more than ChatGPT4—and failed the final exam miserably.

This is why you need a human proofreader. Even state-of-the-art AI proofreading- and grammar-checking software can’t measure up to a trained and experienced professional proofreader.

The English language is vast, complex, and ever-changing. It’s far too complicated for computers to comprehend and navigate, so we can’t rely entirely on their advice. Only a human can truly understand something that another human wrote. And only a human with training and experience can review, revise, and polish that writing to make it truly shine!

Ready to Enhance Your Writing?

Contact me today to experience the difference professional proofreading can make for you.

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