Why Hire a Proofreader?

There are many good reasons to hire a proofreader. Text that contains spelling, grammatical and typographical errors, or that uses poor phrasing, looks unprofessional and makes a bad impression on the reader. Text that has been proofread, on the other hand, shows the reader that you have a strong handle on the relevant ideas and the skills to communicate those ideas effectively. In other words, well-written text will get you better grades, better jobs, and a better response from clients and other readers.

Arguably, the best reason to hire a professional proofreader is that typos, grammar gaffes and spelling errors, once printed or published, are immortal. Would you want a proofreading fiasco like one of these real-world examples to be your legacy? We think not.

McDonald’s Goes Right Thru You…

Image ©Jai-to-Z

Good to see that London students are taking their spelling lessons to heart. (Yes, you will find thru in a dictionary. You’ll also find ain’t. Neither belongs on the signage of a multi-billion dollar corporation.)

Bad Spelling = No Girlfriend

Image ©Gez D

This very sad foray into online dating debuted in online users’ email and various forums in 2007, with successive rounds of commentary and defacement. The young man in question was probably a very eligible bachelor. He just needed a good proofreader.

One Boy and His Apparel

Image ©Cloudsoup

Kind of them to maintain an entire clothing department for just one child. Sadly, apostrophe abuse by retail establishments has become so widespread that examples are colloquially known as “The Grocer’s Apostrophe.” See the Flickr group devoted to sightings.

Realistically, it’s common for even good writers to struggle with pesky pronouns (who or whom?), apostrophes (its or it’s?), homophones (principle or principal?), and hyphens (well deserved or well-deserved?). It doesn’t help that programs like Microsoft Word’s Spelling and Grammar Check can actually make things worse rather than better. While these features are helpful in certain capacities, they are not nearly as accurate or as skillful as a good proofreader. So, if the document is important, chances are that you should hire one.