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Writing & Editing

Proofreading

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For blogs set to the English language, WordPress can check spelling, grammar, and style using After the Deadline Proofreading technology.

Click Check your writing button in the Visual Editor or Proofread HTML Editor in the HTML Editor toolbar to check your writing.

atd_editor_in_action

The proofreading feature checks spelling, misused words, grammar, and style. You can tell the type of error by its color.

  • Misused words and spelling errors are red
  • Grammar mistakes are green
  • Style suggestions are blue

Click an error to see a menu with suggestions. Many errors have an Explain option that provides more information.

atd_error_menu

You may select Ignore suggestion to ignore a phrase once. Select Ignore always to have WordPress permanently ignore and unmark a phrase.

Proofreading in the HTML Editor

Using the proofreader from the HTML Editor is similar to the Visual Editor with a few differences:

  1. While proofreading from the HTML Editor, you will not be able to type in the editor. Click resume editing to stop proofreading and return to the HTML Editor.
  2. The suggestion menu will include an Edit Selection… item at the bottom. Click this to edit the error without leaving the proofreader.

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Proofreading Options

You can configure the proofreading feature by going to My Account -> Edit Profile.

atd_profile_options

From here you can edit the phrase ignore list and enable extra options in the proofreading feature. Make sure you click Update Profile at the bottom of the page to save your settings.

Grammar and Style Options

The proofreader applies many of its grammar rules by default. These extra options find patterns of poor writing style:

  • Bias language may offend or alienate different groups of readers.
  • Clichés are overused phrases with little reader impact.
  • Complex phrases are words or phrases with simpler every-day alternatives.
  • Diacritical marks are accents and marks attached to letters in some nouns and words borrowed from other languages. This option helps restore these marks in your writing.
  • A double negative is one negative phrase followed by another. The negatives cancel each other out, making the meaning hard to understand.
  • A hidden verb is a verb made into a noun. These often need extra verbs to make sense.
  • Jargon phrases are foreign words and phrases that only make sense to certain people.
  • Passive voice obscures or omits the sentence subject. Frequent use of passive voice makes your writing hard to understand.
  • Phrases to avoid are wishy-washy or indecisive phrases.
  • Redundant phrases can be shortened by removing an unneeded word.
Ignored Phrases

You may add a phrase to the ignore list by typing it into the text field and clicking Add. Click atd_remove_button to remove a phrase from the ignore list. A phrase is one or more words and the ignore list is case-sensitive.

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Additional Info

Can I add words to the dictionary?

No, but you can add phrases to an ignore list so they don’t show up as errors.

Do you differentiate between American, British, and Canadian English?

Not yet. For now, American, British, and Canadian variations of words are in our dictionary.

Is the proofreading feature available for languages other than English?

Not yet, but we hope to offer this in the future.

The writing checker flagged a word as misused when it was used correctly, what happened?

The proofreading feature looks for commonly confused words and then decides, using the surrounding context, if another word is a better fit. Sometimes it gets it wrong.

The proofreading feature missed an error I made, what happened?

The proofreading feature is not a replacement for carefully reading what you write. It is a safety net meant to capture common mistakes and bring them to your attention. Finding every error is not possible with today’s technology.

Can I use this technology on my self-hosted WordPress blog?

Yes, download the After the Deadline plugin at WordPress.org.

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Video

Check out our video that introduces After the Deadline: Proofreading for WordPress.com.

Last modified: November 10, 2009

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