Proofreading

Humanities › Languages

Strategies to Proofread Effectively

By Richard Nordquist 

Updated January 19, 2019

Listen to what Mark Twain had to say on the subject of proofreading, and then consider our 10 tips for proofreading effectively.

The difference between the almost-right word & the right word is really a large matter. Twain's well-known observation appears at the top of the "Language/Writing" page of a university's continuing education website—just above a blurb for "Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading." Except that Twain's line is misquoted, and the word lightning is twice misspelled as lightening.

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