Here are three more of our eight tips for successful proofreading.

3. Use up-to-update business writing rules when proofreading. For example, in business writing:

• Sentences may begin with and, nor, or for, but check that groups of words being treated as sentences are sentences.
• One sentence may stand alone as a paragraph, and one word may stand alone as a sentence. 
• Sentences may end with prepositions.
• Rules for such standards as using abbreviations and Arabic numbers may be different from very formal or academic writing standards you learned.

4. If you know you are weak in spelling, sentence structure, or some other writing skill, give a separate reading for that kind of error.

5. Proofread for detail.

• Watch for punctuation marks that come in sets: brackets, parentheses, quotation marks, and dashes.
• Proof numerical data against the source.
• Proof spelling of proper names against the source.
• For reports and manuals, proof the table of contents and index against the text. 
• For letters, give a separate reading for standard elements such as the date (especially at the beginning of a new year), salutation, and closing.
• Check continuity of page numbers. 
• Watch for omitted spaces, letters, words, lines, and paragraphs. Watch for doubled words (especially at the beginnings and ends of typed lines).
• Proof for common typos such as mistyping of, on, or and if, in, is, it.

To comment on this topic, visit our Business Writing Tips Forum.

This edition was adapted from our Business Grammar Program.

Previous editions may be read at http://www.uliveandlearn.com/newsletters/index.cfm.
 

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