We’ve talked about proofreading before on the blog but there’s one thing we’ve left out.
I read a tip a few years ago, and was so surprised I hadn’t known about it before. When proofing, to read the words backwards. It seems if you are reading a word right to left your brain will catch things, where when you read left to right it is easier to miss something.
This totally works!
You might have received fun emails over the years, where you read a paragraph which is missing many letters, but you can still read it because your brain just sees the word. I think this follows along those lines…when reading it backwards your brain is confused, and it can’t substitute or add letters.
I always proof backwards now and it’s saved me more times then I want to admit.
Do you have any great proofreading tips you’ve found? We’d love to hear them!
That’s a great idea. It also helps to read what you wrote out loud if you are checking for grammar and syntax.