Spelling, grammar, connection, cohesion… all of this is proofreading.

Hello. Over the past few months, we have been in contact with you through this channel, our blog. The texts range from informative to more relaxed pieces, explaining how proofreading can take place. Often, the proofreader’s expectations are not fulfilled. The author restricts the work because, for example, they are very protective of their style. But that is a subject for another text.

Many people who are unfamiliar with proofreading think it is limited only to spelling correction. In other words, you need to be an ace with the dictionary. No, that is not quite it. You need to know the different ways a given word can be written. The biggest trap I can remember right now is sessão. Or cessão. Or seção. And then there is exceção. Which quite a few people spell incorrectly.

So spelling is not limited only to whether a word is written correctly, but also to whether it applies to the context. In the case of cessão, for example, which is related to ceder, we cannot write sessão, which is a meeting or gathering of people to discuss a particular subject. Understand?

Your work, the work of proofreading, includes, of course, checking the application of grammatical rules. What does that mean? It means adjusting feminine and masculine forms, singular and plural; actions that begin in the past and do not continue into the present; discourse in the third person does not shift into the first person. A character, when not the narrator, does not tell the story in the first person. Is it getting complicated? Feel free to contact us.

Renowned authors also get tangled up with the connection of the story, the plot. Especially in works of fiction. Although it can also happen with educational works, nonfiction… believe it.

At one point in the story, the character was bald, but a few chapters later he gets involved, during a conversation with the barber, in a haircut (huh?), with a startling revelation. The mystery was solved in that investigation. And where does the proofreader come in?

The proofreader points it out, marking it as a comment in Word itself, that on page xx the character is bald. “Author, please confirm this situation.” Something like that. It is not advisable for the proofreader to simply change it. The author may prefer that the character not be bald and that the earlier information be removed.

Have you been following us on the blog? Do you follow our page on social media? What do you think of our work? Would you also like to become a proofreader? Talk to us or follow our social media channels. We love interacting with our audience. Proofreading is a very enriching field. Want to learn more? Talk to us. 😉