The Ltteer Oredr Pgae

Many of us catch other people’s proofreading errors everyday, so it can be difficult to understand the importance of hiring a professional to proofread our own work.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aeappr, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are in the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a cmolpete mses and sitll be raed wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Or, with more standard spelling:

According to research at an English university, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a word appear, only that the first and last letters are in the right places. The rest can be a complete mess and still be read without a problem. This is because we do not read every letter itself, but the word as a whole.

The way we read directly affects our ability to proofread our own work. When reading text that we have written ourselves, our brains anticipate the right spelling, our eyes “see” words that are actually missing and vice versa. Familiarity breeds anticipation. What’s the solution? Hire a proofreader for your important documents and projects. Experienced proofreaders are trained to overcome the brain’s auto-correct inclination, so yuor txet dseno’t look leik tihs!