9 Perfect Ways to Improve Your Proofreading Skills

We all know that proofreading is important—it doesn’t matter if you’re a native speaker or just learning English. Nothing is worse than turning in a project you worked hard on, only to discover that it’s full of typos, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes. But proofreading your own writing is tough. Sometimes your brain sees what you meant to write instead of what’s actually on the page.

Luckily, there are tactics you can use to make proofreading easier. Give these nine proofreading techniques a try and catch your writing mistakes before your readers do.

1 Give it a rest

When you have to edit your own work, it’s a good idea to take a break after you finish writing. Do something else for a little while. Your brain needs some time to forget a little bit about what you wrote. When you come back and start proofreading, it will be easier to look at your work from the perspective of your readers. If English isn’t your native language, this is especially important. You’ll spot mistakes you missed before because you’ll be reading what’s actually on the page instead of just remembering what you meant to write.

2 Print it out or change the font

Make your document look less familiar by changing the format. Try printing it out, changing the margins, or changing the font. When the text looks different from what you’re used to seeing, you’ll pay more attention to it and you’ll be less likely to start skimming.

3 Read your work aloud

Reading your writing aloud will help you find sentences that are hard to understand. Did you need to stop and breathe in the middle of a sentence? That’s a good indication that the sentence is too long. Are there places where you stumbled over your words? Your readers will get confused in those spots too, so it’s a good idea to rewrite them.

Added bonus: this is always a great trick for improving your English pronunciation!

4 Read backward

Start at the last word of your document and work your way to the beginning, one word at a time. This is a great way to spot misspellings and repeated words. Reading backward helps you concentrate on individual words without getting distracted by the topic of the sentence.

5 Use your finger

The best proofreaders have one thing in common. When they are proofreading, they read very, very slowly. If you’re naturally a fast reader, it can be surprisingly difficult to slow down and really examine your writing. Try using your finger to point at each word as you’re reading. It’s a good way to force yourself to stop and really look at everything you’ve written.

6 Keep a list of mistakes you make often

Nobody likes being reminded about past mistakes, but in this case, a list of them can help you avoid making the same mistake twice. Maybe you tend to mix up “there” and “their,” or maybe apostrophes and possessive nouns give you trouble. Write down your most common mistakes and make a note about the correct usage. Keep the list near your computer so you can easily refer to it while you’re writing. Having the answer handy will save you time in looking it up. Over time, you’ll probably find that you need the list less and less.

7 Pay special attention to titles, headings, and lists

Titles and headings are the first things people look at, but it’s surprisingly easy to overlook mistakes in them. Double-check every title and heading in your document. If your document contains a numbered list, make sure the numbers are in the right order.

8 Double check prepositions you aren’t sure about

English prepositions (words like in, on, to, from, by, about) are tricky. Often, they don’t follow a logical pattern. Do you comply with a request? Or do you comply to a request? A tool like Google Ngram Viewer can show you which phrase is more common in English. It’s a helpful starting point, but remember that the tool won’t define the phrases for you. You’ll still need to check a dictionary if you aren’t sure about the meaning of the preposition.

9 Check your writing with Grammarly

Grammarly’s online writing app not only checks your spelling and grammar but also suggests style and vocabulary improvements. You can create a free account and upload a document, or you can download the free Grammarly browser extension, which will correct your spelling and grammar whenever you write something online.

Grammarly’s AI-powered products help people communicate more effectively. Millions of users rely on Grammarly every day to make their messages, documents and social media posts clear, mistake-free, and effective.

A version of this post originally appeared on Kaplan International’s blog.

This Is Why Managing Stress Will Make You Successful

Workplace stress touches most of us at one time or another. In fact, according to the American Institute of Stress, 80 percent of us feel stressed at work. Deadlines loom. Bosses make unrealistic demands. Restructuring means anxiety over job security. Although stressors may be an inherent part of work life, buckling under the pressure doesn’t have to be.

There are plenty of reasons to manage your workplace stress rather than accepting it as part and parcel of having a busy career. For starters, stress takes a heavy physical toll. It can cause headaches, stomach upset, irritability, depression, and even elevated blood pressure.

Along with its emotional toll, prolonged job-related stress can drastically affect your physical health. Constant preoccupation with job responsibilities often leads to erratic eating habits and not enough exercise, resulting in weight problems, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol levels.

—American Psychological Association

Stress doesn’t exactly make you more productive on the job, either. It can strip away your ability to concentrate and process complex thoughts. Stress can make it difficult to find the motivation to complete tasks, which creates a negative feedback loop when you’re under pressure to perform.

6 Ways to Manage Stress at Work

1 Know what stresses you out.

Sure, you’re stressed. But do you actually know why? Many of us walk around on edge without ever taking a moment to uncover the source of our stress on a deep level.

Let’s say you often struggle to meet deadlines. Being behind the curve at work can be anxiety-inducing. Can you identify the underlying problems? Maybe a chatty coworker distracts you more frequently than you thought, or you’re lured away from your tasks by social media. Now that you’ve identified the root of the issue, you can work on regaining your focus.

2 Respond to stress in positive ways.

If you respond to stress by coming home, opening a bag of chips, and flinging yourself at the couch where you’ll binge-watch Netflix until you crawl off to bed, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

via GIPHY

Here are some better ways to combat stress:

• Get plenty of exercise
• Eat a healthy diet
• Make time to get plenty of rest
• Schedule social time and connect with people regularly
• Make time for your creative pursuits
• Meditate or practice yoga daily

3 Don’t skip vacation.

It’s tempting, especially when job stress is high, to push onward and be a martyr. We all like to come across as committed to our work. But is your commitment really shining through if you’re stressed out all the time and less productive as a result?

Trust us. You need a vacation. Taking time off to rejuvenate ultimately makes workers more productive. It can also reduce symptoms of stress like sleeplessness, fatigue, and headaches. Return to work relaxed and refreshed and you’ll be better equipped to get things done.

4 Act on what you can control, accept what you can’t.

How often do you find yourself thinking, Ugh! I should be getting my act together!

All those “shoulds” tend to pile up on a person, creating stress. But learning to tune in to that interior monologue allows you to focus your thoughts. Mindfulness, and a practice called radical acceptance, can help.

Radical acceptance encourages you to look at distressing events as though you’re a casual observer with no stakes in the game. You begin by simply describing what happened, and your role in it, in the most objective terms possible. Then you assess what you had control over in that particular situation, and what you didn’t.

Mindfulness challenges you to accept the things outside of your control. Why stress over things you’re powerless to change? It also helps you shift your emotional response from negative to neutral, or even productive, by teaching you to channel your energies toward acting (taking ownership of the things you do have control over) rather than simply reacting.

5 Ask for help when you need it.

Don’t be afraid to admit when you’re in the weeds. Everyone gets overwhelmed from time to time, and there’s no shame in asking for help when you truly need it.

We tend to view asking for help as admitting defeat. But put yourself in your manager’s shoes. Would you rather an employee make excuses for not completing a project on time or to your satisfaction, or have that employee ask for help before disaster strikes?

There are a few caveats to asking for help. First, make certain you’ve put in your best effort before you seek out assistance. Second, prepare any questions you have in advance. If you simply go to your boss with a complaint without offering any solutions, you’ll sound like you’re whining rather than being proactive about solving a problem. Most of all, be sure you know the answer to the question your boss is likely to ask: What do you need from me?

6 Remember what you love about your job.

When you’re stressed out, it helps to take a few deep breaths and remember what you love about your job. Maybe the work is fulfilling, or you have great coworkers, or you’re actually living the dream of being what you always wanted to be when you grew up. It’s impossible to feel both grateful and fearful or angry at the same time, so remind yourself from time to time that there are good things about your job even when the stressors are mounting.

Of course, if there’s nothing to love anymore, it may be time to consider moving on. Work stress is a fact of life, but if coping strategies aren’t working and you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, it may be time to hit the job boards in search of a better fit before stress takes a serious physical or emotional toll.

Than Vs. Then–What’s the Difference?

Two acquaintances who share many of the same features may be difficult to distinguish from one another. How can you tell them apart? One way is to get to know them better. Even identical twins have unique characteristics in their physical appearance and personality. A lot of people make errors with the nearly identical than/then pair, but you don’t have to be one of them. Just use the same strategy you use to tell one person from another—get to know them!

When to Use Than

A conjunction is a word that connects two clauses or coordinates words in the same clause. Than is a conjunction used to introduce the second part of an unequal comparison. It also introduces the rejected choice in expressions of preference. Finally, than can mean “except” or “when.”

Amanda is shorter than Annabelle is. She would rather die than wear high heels.

Than can also function as a preposition. A preposition connects a noun or pronoun to a verb or adjective in a sentence, usually to express a spatial or temporal relationship. As a preposition, than means “in relation to” or “by comparison with.” Here’s a (technically correct) construction you may not have seen before:

Annabelle is a friend than whom there is none more caring.

Than appears in a lot of idioms. Many of them, such as “more fun than a barrel of monkeys” or “more dead than alive,” feature comparisons. You’ve probably heard some of the most popular ones (e.g., “easier said than done,” “better late than never”) but many may be new to you. For example, have you heard of “more sinned against than sinning”? Wouldn’t it be a fun project to find out how these colorful expressions started?

When to Use Then

Then often functions as an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Dictionaries define then lots of different ways: in that case, at that time, next in order of place or time, at the same time, soon afterward, in addition, or as a consequence.

Standing next to Edwin is Ethan, then my roommate Claire, then me. Edwin told me, “If we are having fun together, then you should take lots of photographs.” There were no digital cameras then!

Sometimes, then is an adjective or a noun. As an adjective, or describing word, it means “being such, existing, or being at the time indicated.” As a noun, it means “that time.”

My then roommate Claire moved out and I have not seen her since then.

Then appears in some idioms too. One means “on the other hand”: Edwin is funny, but then I laugh at everything. Another idiom means “at that exact time and place, or at once”: Ethan asked me if I wanted to take a road trip, and I went home to pack my suitcase right then and there.

Then and than have many similar characteristics. They are spelled alike, except for the E in then and the A in than. However, telling them apart is not impossible. They have different characteristics: How you define than is definitely not the same as how you define then! They have different “personalities” in that they function as different parts of speech. Do you feel that you know them better now?

Participle

What’s a Participle?

A participle is a form of a verb that can be used as an adjective or combined with the verb to be to construct different verb tenses.

Present Participles

In English, all present participles end in -ing. In most cases, if the base form of a verb ends in a consonant, you simply add -ing. Walk becomes walking, eat becomes eating, think becomes thinking, and so on. If the verb ends with a silent -e, the -e is usually dropped before -ing is added. Move becomes moving, consume becomes consuming, meditate becomes meditating. For verbs that end in -ie, the -ie usually changes to -y before the -ing is added.

Present participles are also sometimes called gerund participles.

Past Participles

Most past participles are formed by adding -ed to the base form of a verb (or just -d if the verb already ends in -e. Walk becomes walked, move becomes moved, and so on. However, there are a handful of verbs with irregular past participles. Some common ones include think/thought, eat/eaten, go/gone, do/done, and feel/felt.

Combining Participles with to Be

Present participles combine with the verb to be to form certain verb tenses. The past continuous, present continuous, and future continuous tenses combine the verb to be with present participles:

I was walking. (past continuous) I am walking. (present continuous) I will be walking. (future continuous)

Past participles combine with the verb to be to create the passive voice. In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the action of the verb. Someone or something else performs the action.

The pie was eaten by Rodney. The test was passed by the whole class. The movie was watched by people around the country.

Why Do We Say ’Tis the Season?

If you’ve seen the classic holiday movie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, then you’ll probably remember this scene. Family man Clark Griswold stands at the lingerie counter of a large department store chatting up the pretty sales girl. After bumbling through the conversation and making a fool of himself, he smiles and says, “‘Tis the season to be merry!”

But where did ’tis the season, a phrase we use during the festive build-up to the end-of-year holidays, originate?

The history of ’tis the season

’Tis the season evokes the quaint, archaic language we associate with holiday stories like A Christmas Carol. Although Ebenezer Scrooge suggested that anyone who went around wishing others a Merry Christmas should be “boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart” (geez, dude—chill!), he may not have had an opinion of ’tis the season. It’s possible the phrase first appeared in a song written around 1862, nineteen years after A Christmas Carol was published.

’Tis the season is most often recognized in the lyrics to the classic holiday song, Deck the Halls. Go ahead and sing along with us!

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Fa la la la la, la la la la

‘Tis the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la, la la la la . . .

Whenever you carol about donning your gay apparel, you’re singing lyrics written by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant. They’re sung to the tune of a Welsh winter folk song called Nos Galan. Believe it or not, the Nos Galan (which means “New Year’s eve” in 18th century Welsh) was a competitive New Year’s Eve drinking song.

Where does the word ’tis come from?

‘Tis (pronounced tiz) is a contraction of it is, similar to it’s. The word is much older than Oliphant’s holiday song, however. Its origins probably date back to the 1500s.

Here’s a tip: Because ’tis is a contraction, it requires an apostrophe. Make sure your word processor doesn’t automatically add a single left quotation mark instead!

‘Tis is also known as a proclitic, which is a word that’s closely connected in pronunciation with the word that follows it. When we don’t take time to enunciate the two separate words it and is, we get a word like ’tis that just sort of rolls off the tongue. Proclitics work especially well when singing an up-tempo song or when cutting a syllable to fit a poem’s meter.

According to Google Ngram, ’tis first appeared in writing in the early 1600s but peaked in popularity a hundred years later in the early 1700s. You’ll find the word in everything from the works of Shakespeare to Monty Python.

• “If it were done when ’tis done, then ‘twere well. It were done quickly.” —Shakespeare, Macbeth
• “Anger as soon as fed is dead; ‘Tis starving makes it fat.” —Emily Dickinson
• ”Susan, ’tis Phoebe he loves, ’tis me, not Livvy!” —J. M. Barrie “Quality Street”
• “’Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” —George Washington
• ”’Tis a flesh wound!” —The Black Knight, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

If you’d love to revive colorful (if archaic) contractions such as ’tis, you might consider adding ’twas to your vocabulary. That’s a contraction of it was. It’s also the first word of the popular poem A Visit From St. Nicholas. You know, the one that starts with “’Twas the night before Christmas.”

How to Address a Letter: 9 Tips You Should Know

You don’t do this often.

Let’s face it. Putting the date at the top and your signature at the bottom isn’t your jam when it’s time to address a letter. Nor is folding pages into crisp thirds to fit inside an envelope. Formal letters just aren’t your specialty.

 

As far as new jobs go, the good news is that learning how to address a letter is a lot easier than learning to tie a respectable half-Windsor or mastering the mysterious art of polite breakroom chitchat.

Let’s start with a rundown of how to properly address your fancy letter in a way that says “Hey, I do this all the time.”

1Start by putting your contact information at the top.

This longstanding rule makes sense: you want the person you’re addressing to readily know who you are, where you’re coming from, and how they can respond to you.

That last bit is especially vital to check because you don’t want to sabotage any possibility of hearing back from someone you took the time to write. The world is full of woeful young job-seekers who realized only too late that there was a typo in the contact information they pasted in while dispatching a wave of applications.

2Next, put the date.

This one’s easy to get right, and embarrassing (or hilarious) to get wrong. What year is it? How long was I asleep?

3After that, put the recipient’s address.

Think of this as one of the rare occasions where you’re essentially telling a near stranger “I know where you are” and it’s seen as a courtesy. Cherish that.

If you’re writing to a company where you already know someone, this part is a layup—just ask them for the details. Otherwise, this step merits a quick search online.

4Next comes the salutation. “Dear” is a fine stock option.

There are a lot of possibilities once you’re ready to say hello: Greetings, Salutations, and trusty old Dear all spring to mind.

You might feel tempted to try to stand out by choosing an exotic option, but it’s risky. You may not want to gamble on a stranger appreciating a Howdy, let alone such a . . . distinct choice as Hail. (Feel free to ignore that last bit if the person you’re writing is truly dedicated to their role at a renaissance festival.)

Often, your best bet is the straightforward route: Dear is widely used for a reason, after all.

And don’t overthink whether it’s awkward to address someone you’ve never met this way. People who aren’t “dear” to each other per se sling the word around all the time in correspondence, even in the midst of tense legal posturing between a presidential campaign and a topflight newspaper. In such fraught circumstances, the word Dear isn’t the part that people are stressing over.

5Know who you’re contacting.

Sometimes this is easy. Again, if you already know someone on the inside of a company where you’re sending a cover letter, for instance, they should be able to help you nail down the specifics fairly painlessly. Otherwise…

6Not to belabor this, but that last item might warrant a little research.

Depending on the relative opacity of the organization you’re writing to, precisely whom you should address may not be obvious. For instance, if you’re a writer applying to even a mid-size publication, you’ll quickly discover the place is crawling with editors—but which one is supposed to read your letter?

One solution is to just find an all-purpose phone number to dial and ask who the appropriate department head is. Another approach is to poke around on LinkedIn and suss out the correct person that way. Whatever you do, avoid punting with a lazy “Dear Sir or Madam.”

7Mister, Miss, Doctor, Senator, None of the Above

The most common approach here is simple: an old-timey Mr. or Ms.

In addressing a woman you don’t know, Ms. is usually safer than Mrs. It assumes less, and can seem more professional by refraining from drawing the recipient’s marital status into the matter.

It’s worth noting when it comes to honorifics there are differing schools of thought; you might prefer the gender-neutral route, simply putting the subject’s full name.

Also, be on the watch for cases like doctors and PhD holders: many will tell you they worked hard for their credentials and appreciate being recognized as Dr.

You want to make a good impression, after all.

8Put a colon or a comma.

This one’s up to you. While the comma at the end of your salutation does the job just fine, some argue the colon appears more sophisticated.

9If you’re sharing this letter online, consider saving it as a PDF.

It’s hardly a problem if you plan to print your letter out on a sheet of paper, but in 2017, many formal letters end up as files whirling through the ether from one computer to the next, and when they arrive on an alien screen with wonky settings, their formatting is tragically wrecked.

Further, imagine someone printing your letter, wrecked formatting and all, en route to a meeting to discuss it with colleagues. The mortification.

One way to preserve your letter’s tidy address in transit is to save your file as a PDF, so your work arrives legibly intact.

With your letter clearly addressed, you’re well on your way to corresponding like an old-school professional. Grammarly has lots of other tips on how bring your fancy letter in for a landing, too.

Do You Capitalize the Names of Countries, Nationalities, and Languages?

You should capitalize the names of countries, nationalities, and languages because they are proper nouns—English nouns that are always capitalized.

Consider the following sentences and pay attention to the capitalized nouns:

English is made up of many languages, including Latin, German, and French.

My mother is British, and my father is Dutch.

The Mennonites began to worship in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century.

Jason has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

If you’re ever wondering when to capitalize English, when you’re talking about the language or the nationality, the answer always. Although people writing casually online often lowercase the word, it is a proper noun and therefore requires a capital letter.