Building a Document s Credibility Using Spelling and Grammar Tools

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Building a Document's Credibility Using Spelling and Grammar Tools

Two frequently used reference tools in Word are the spelling and grammar tools. The popularity of these tools is understandable—most people know that nothing detracts from a document's credibility more than spelling and grammatical errors. To help you avoid the pitfalls of these kinds of errors, let's look at the ins and outs of the spelling and grammar tools in Word.

Caution 

Using the spelling and grammar tools to check your documents shouldn't replace proofreading. These features are helpful, but they can't definitively correct your text in all instances. Instead of thinking of the spelling and grammar checking tools as a teacher correcting your work, visualize an assistant who taps you on the shoulder whenever your text seems to go astray, and then offers advice on how to fix the problem. Ultimately, you'll need to read through your document carefully to ensure its accuracy.

Benefiting from Automated Spelling and Grammar Checking

By default, Word checks spelling and grammar whenever you open a document or type information in a document. With automatic spelling and grammar checking, Word flags potential spelling errors with a wavy red underline and potential grammatical errors with a wavy green underline, as shown in Figure 6-9 (although you won't be able to differentiate between green and red here).

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Figure 6-9: By default, Word automatically checks your document for spelling and grammar errors and flags the errors with wavy underlines.

Note 

The red and green wavy underlines used to flag spelling and grammar errors are not printed when you print your document—they appear only on-screen.

Word also displays the Spelling And Grammar Status icon on the status bar. This icon indicates whether your document contains any potential errors. If errors are detected, the icon contains an X mark; if no errors are found, the icon contains a check mark. (In the example in Figure 6-9, the Spelling And Grammar Status icon contains an X, indicating that the document contains potential spelling or grammar errors.)

Tip 

Flag formatting inconsistencies  In addition to displaying red and green wavy underlines to denote spelling and grammatical issues, you can configure Word to flag formatting inconsistencies with a blue wavy underline. Word marks text when it appears similar to but not exactly the same as other formatting in your document. For example, Word can recognize when a list is formatted slightly differently than other lists in your document (maybe one list is indented more than other lists, for instance) or when normal text appears in boldface in paragraph text. To use the formatting checker, choose Tools, Options, click the Edit tab, and then select the Mark Formatting Inconsistencies check box. In addition, the Keep Track Of Formatting check box must be selected in the Edit tab (the default setting).

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Understanding the Underlines in Your Document

You might have noticed that Word frequently uses combination of colors and underlines to draw attention to text in your document. By default, Word uses a number of colors and underlines as visual cues to flag potential errors. By understanding Word's color-coded underlining scheme, you can review and correct documents more efficiently. The main visual cues you'll find in Word include the following:

  • Red wavy underline Indicates a possible spelling error.

  • Green wavy underline Indicates a possible grammar error.

  • Blue wavy underline Indicates a possible instance of a formatting inconsistency.

  • Purple wavy underline Indicates that an XML structure doesn't adhere to the attached XML schema in an XML document,.

  • Blue (default) underline Indicates that the text is a hyperlink. Hyperlinks appear as blue underlined text by default but the settings can be customized.

  • Purple (default) underline Indicates a visited (or followed) hyperlink. Visited hyperlinks appear as purple underlined text by default but the settings can be customized.

  • Red single or double underlines Indicate newly inserted text when the Track Changes feature is turned on. Other colors can also indicate inserted text, and a different color can correspond to each author who makes changes to the document.

  • Purple dotted underlines Accompany smart tags and appear under the text relevant to the smart tag.

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Fixing Marked Text Quickly Case by Case

After Word marks potential spelling and grammar errors, you can resolve each issue on a case-by-case basis. To access options for fixing a potential error, you can right-click text that has a wavy underline or double-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon to select the next instance of a potential error. Both techniques display a shortcut menu containing error-fixing options. Different options are available depending on whether the potential error is a spelling issue or a grammar issue. The shortcut menu for a spelling issue is shown in Figure 6-10.

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Figure 6-10: Word provides a selection of relevant error correction options when you right-click text flagged as a potential error.

The possible remedies are as follows:

  • List of possible replacement words Provides one or more words that might represent the correctly spelled version of the word in your text. To replace a misspelled word with a correctly spelled word, simply click the word in the shortcut menu.

  • Ignore All Instructs Word to ignore all instances of the flagged spelling within the current document. When you ignore all instances of a particular flagged word, the red wavy underline is removed from the specified text throughout the document.

  • Add To Dictionary Adds the word as it's spelled in your document to your custom dictionary, which ensures that the term won't be flagged as a potential error in the future. (Custom dictionaries are discussed in detail in "Managing Custom Dictionaries,".)

  • AutoCorrect Enables you to configure an AutoCorrect setting for the misspelled word. You can have the misspelled word automatically replaced with the correctly spelled word by clicking the correctly spelled word in the AutoCorrect submenu, as shown in Figure 6-11. Alternatively, you can manually configure an AutoCorrect entry in the AutoCorrect dialog box by clicking AutoCorrect Options in the AutoCorrect submenu.

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    Figure 6-11: You can select a correctly spelled word in the AutoCorrect submenu so that future instances of the mistyped text you've selected are automatically replaced with the correctly spelled word.

  • Language Enables you to specify that a particular word or phrase is written in another language. If proofreading tools are installed for that language, Word uses the appropriate language dictionary to check the text. If a corresponding language dictionary is not installed, Word will skip the specified words without marking them as potential errors.

  • Spelling Displays the Spelling dialog box, which provides additional spelling checking options. The Spelling dialog box is similar to the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, which you can access by choosing Tools, Spelling And Grammar or by pressing F7.

  • Look Up Displays the Research task pane and presents typical dictionary type information, including definitions and spelling alternatives. Furthermore, if your computer is online, you can find additional information about the term by using other research services and resources such as encyclopedias and Web sites.

  • Cut Deletes the selected text and puts it on the Clipboard. (If you right-click text without selecting it, the Cut command is dimmed and unavailable.)

  • Copy Copies the selected text to the Clipboard. (If you right-click text without selecting it, the Copy command is dimmed and unavailable.)

  • Paste Pastes the last item copied to the Clipboard. To replace a misspelled word using Paste, be sure that the entire misspelled word is selected.

Grammar correction options are accessed in much the same way as spelling correction options. In this case, you right-click text flagged with a green wavy underline or double-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon. Both techniques display a shortcut menu containing the following options:

  • Short error explanation or replacement text Provides a brief description of the problem or possible replacement text. For example, the error explanation might state Fragment (Consider Revising), or it might show the flagged phrase followed by the plural form of the verb instead of the singular form.

  • Ignore Once Disregards the current instance of the grammatical error but doesn't disregard other text that breaks the same grammar rule. You might want to ignore an error once if a particular construct is acceptable in a specific area of your document but you don't want to ignore the construct in other areas. For example, you might want to allow a sentence fragment in a figure caption but still want Word to continue to scan for sentence fragments in the rest of your document.

  • Grammar Displays the Grammar dialog box, which provides additional grammar checking options. The Grammar dialog box is similar to the Spelling And Grammar dialog box; you can access it by choosing Tools, Spelling And Grammar or by pressing F7.

  • About This Sentence Provides additional information about the potential error flagged by Word.

  • Look Up Displays the Research task pane and presents information from reference sources about the flagged text. If your computer is online, you can find additional information about the term by using other research services and resources such as encyclopedias and Web sites. Note that this option provides information about the flagged text but doesn't necessarily present a grammatical fix.

  • Cut Deletes the selected text and puts it on the Clipboard. (If you right-click a word or text without selecting it, the Cut command is dimmed and unavailable.)

  • Copy Copies the selected text to the Clipboard. (If you right-click text without selecting it, the Copy command is dimmed and unavailable.)

  • Paste Pastes the last item copied to the Clipboard. To replace a word using Paste, be sure that the entire word is selected.

You can also resolve spelling and grammar issues by correcting your text without accessing the shortcut menus. When you manually correct a misspelling or a grammatical error, Word automatically removes the wavy underline.

Tip 

To jump to the next spelling or grammatical error without displaying the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, double-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon or press Alt+F7.

Disabling Automatic Spelling and Grammar Checking

By default, Word checks for spelling and grammar errors automatically, but you can turn off one or both of these features at any time. For instance, many users appreciate the spelling checker but some find that the grammar checker doesn't serve their needs particularly well. To control automatic spelling and grammar checking, perform one of the following actions:

  • Right-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon, and choose Hide Spelling Errors or Hide Grammatical Errors from the shortcut menu.

  • Choose Tools, Options, and click the Spelling & Grammar tab (or right-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon, and choose Options). In the Spelling & Grammar tab, shown in Figure 6-12, clear the Check Spelling As You Type check box to turn off the spelling checker, or clear the Check Grammar As You Type check box to turn off the grammar checker.

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    Figure 6-12: The Spelling & Grammar tab enables you to customize how Word performs spelling and grammar checking tasks.

Tip 

Turn off the wavy lines  If you want to use the Spelling Checking and Grammar Checking features but you don't want to see red and green wavy underlines throughout your document, you can turn off the underlines. To do so, choose Tools, Options, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and then select the Hide Spelling Errors In This Document check box to hide red (spelling) underlines and select the Hide Grammatical Errors In This Document check box to hide green (grammar) wavy underlines. Or you can right-click the Spelling And Grammar Status icon on Word's status bar, and choose Hide Spelling Errors or Hide Grammatical Errors from the shortcut menu.

Tip 

Turn off spelling and grammar completely  You might notice that when you disable the spelling and grammar checking tools the Spelling And Grammar Status icon continues to appear on the status bar. To remove the status bar icon, you must also turn off smart tags, because the grammar checker is used to recognize smart tags. To turn off smart tags, choose Tools, AutoCorrect Options, and then click the Smart Tags tab. Clear the Label Text With Smart Tags check box, and click OK. The next time you start Word the Spelling And Grammar Status icon will not appear.

Scrutinizing Your Spelling in an Entire Document

At times, you might prefer to check your spelling and grammar in one fell swoop instead of right-clicking every instance of a potential error. In those cases, your best bet is to work through your document or block of selected text using the Spelling And Grammar dialog box. To access the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, perform any of the following actions:

  • Choose Tools, Spelling And Grammar.

  • Click the Spelling And Grammar button on the Standard toolbar.

  • Press F7.

When the Spelling And Grammar dialog box appears, it displays the first potential error it encounters after the insertion point in the current document. For each potential problem, the word or phrase in question appears in color: red for a spelling issue, and green for a grammar issue. Figure 6-13 shows the Spelling And Grammar dialog box when a potential spelling error is being addressed, and Figure 6-14 shows the Spelling And Grammar dialog box when a potential grammar error is being reviewed. Take a moment to compare the options in the two versions of the dialog box—you'll notice many similarities and a few differences. In this part of the chapter, you'll learn how to handle potential spelling errors. The grammar options are discussed in "Brushing Up Your Grammar,".

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Figure 6-13: When you use the Spelling And Grammar dialog box to correct errors, you have a greater selection of suggestions and options to pick from than when you right-click potential errors. This version of the dialog box shows the options available for a potentially misspelled word.

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Figure 6-14: The grammar checker provides error-checking options similar to the options available in the spelling checker. This version of the dialog box draws attention to the word "its" as a commonly confused word.

Inside Out: Activating the grammar checker

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You can control whether the grammar checker is activated by selecting or clearing the Check Grammar check box in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, but you can access this particular check box only when you choose Tools, Spelling And Grammar or press F7. If you display the Spelling dialog box or the Grammar dialog box by right-clicking an underlined potential error, this check box will not be available.

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Specifying How to Handle Spelling Errors

When a potential spelling problem appears in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, you can modify the highlighted text by typing in the top box, or you can handle the flagged text using one of the following techniques:

  • Ignore the current instance. You can disregard the current instance of a particular spelling of a word by clicking Ignore Once. If the same misspelling occurs elsewhere in your document, the spelling checker will continue to flag subsequent instances.

  • Ignore all instances. You can disregard all instances of a particular spelling of a word throughout the current document by clicking Ignore All. After you click Ignore All, Word won't flag or query you about any other instances of the misspelled word.

  • Add a word to the dictionary. You can add the current instance of a particular spelling of a word to your dictionary by clicking Add To Dictionary. The word will be added to your custom dictionary without further configuration on your part. For more information about controlling your custom dictionary, see "Managing Custom Dictionaries,".

  • Change the current instance. You can replace the selected text with a suggested word by double-clicking the correct word in the Suggestions list or by selecting a word in the Suggestions list, and then clicking Change.

  • Change all instances. You can replace the selected text and all other instances of the same text with a particular word by selecting a word in the Suggestions list, and then clicking Change All.

  • Add terms to the AutoCorrect list. You can add a correction to the AutoCorrect list by selecting a word in the Suggestions list, and then clicking AutoCorrect. The misspelled and correctly spelled versions of the word are automatically added to your AutoCorrect list without further configuration on your part.

    Caution 

    If you click Change All but close the dialog box before checking the entire document, the spelling checker will not make the specified change in the unchecked portion of the document. To change all instances of a correction, ensure that you check the entire document.

    Cross-Reference 

    For more information about the AutoCorrect list, see Chapter 7, "Putting Text Tools to Work."

After you resolve the current spelling issue, Word automatically jumps to the next potential spelling error. If you change your mind about a spelling modification, you can undo the last spelling change by clicking Undo in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, by clicking in the document and pressing Ctrl+Z, or by clicking the Undo button on the Standard toolbar.

Tip 

Edit text while checking spelling and grammar  You can click in your document and make changes directly to your text while the Spelling And Grammar dialog box is open. After you finish making changes to your document, you can continue your spelling check by clicking Resume in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box.

When every spelling issue has been addressed, Word displays a message box informing you that the spelling check is complete. If you want to stop the spelling checker before you've checked the entire document, simply click Close in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box.

Selecting the Text You Want to Check

By default, when you use the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, you check the entire document, starting at the current location of the insertion point. But if you prefer, you can check only selected text. To check only selected text, select the text, and then click the Spelling And Grammar button on the Standard toolbar. (Of course, if you select a single word, you can right-click to access the word replacement options in the shortcut menu.) The spelling checker works through the selected text. When the end of the selected text is reached, Word displays a dialog box stating that Word has finished checking the selected text and asking whether you'd like to continue checking the remainder of the document.

Tip 

Omit selected text from spelling and grammar checking  In addition to selecting specific text you want to check, you can also indicate that portions of text should never be checked for spelling or grammar errors. (When you use this feature, you have to eliminate both spelling and grammar checking—you can't turn off only one feature for selected text.) To turn off spelling and grammar checking procedures for specific text, select the text you want to omit, choose Tools, Language, Set Language, and then select the Do Not Check Spelling Or Grammar check box and click OK. Keep in mind that any text you omit from spelling and grammar checks is also excluded from AutoSummarize processes, which means that the text won't be included in any automatically generated summaries.

Configuring Spelling Options

As mentioned, you can control a few spelling checker options by configuring settings in the Spelling & Grammar tab in the Options dialog box (accessed by choosing Tools, Options, and clicking the Spelling & Grammar tab). The first two options in the Spelling section in the Spelling & Grammar tab—Check Spelling As You Type and Hide Spelling Errors In This Document—are discussed in "Disabling Automatic Spelling and Grammar Checking". The other options you can configure are as follows:

  • Always Suggest Corrections By default, Word provides a list of suggested corrections for each misspelled word. If you find that Word doesn't provide the correct spelling in the majority of instances (for example, you might be working on a document that contains highly specific jargon, such as a medical document), you can clear this check box to save time.

  • Suggest From Main Dictionary Only Word checks all open dictionaries during spelling checks, including the main dictionary and your custom dictionaries. If you prefer to use only the main dictionary, select the Suggest From Main Dictionary Only check box.

  • Ignore Words In UPPERCASE This check box excludes words in all uppercase from spelling checks. The spelling checker would be hard pressed to understand all acronyms, so this check box is selected by default. If you use a number of acronyms and you'd like to check them, you can add the acronyms to your custom dictionary and clear the Ignore Words In UPPERCASE check box.

  • Ignore Words With Numbers By default, any words that contain numbers are ignored by the spelling checker. You'll especially appreciate this option if you're proofreading documents such as catalogs or price lists in which product codes are combinations of numbers and letters.

  • Ignore Internet And File Addresses By default, the spelling checker ignores Internet addresses, file path names, and e-mail addresses. For example, text such as C:\clients\microsoft and www.microsoft.com is automatically ignored by the spelling checker. If you prefer to check these types of elements, clear the Ignore Internet And File Addresses check box.

By configuring these spelling checker options, you can customize spelling tasks to be as streamlined as possible for particular document types.

Rechecking Your Document

Once you've checked a document using the appropriate spelling checker options, Word doesn't recheck any of the spelling or grammar issues that you've addressed or dismissed. If you want to check your document a second (or third) time, you'll have to tell Word to catch previously caught spelling and grammar issues again. To do so, follow these simple steps:

  1. Click the Options button in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, or choose Tools, Options, and click the Grammar & Spelling tab in the Options dialog box.

  2. Click Recheck Document. A message box appears, stating that the operation will reset the spelling and grammar checkers so that Word can recheck your document for potential errors, even if you've previously dismissed the error marks.

  3. Click Yes to close the message box, and then click OK to close the Options dialog box.

  4. After Word has finished resetting the spelling checker and grammar checker, click the Spelling And Grammar button on the Standard toolbar or press F7 to display the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, and then check your document.

You can recheck a document as many times as necessary. This feature is especially handy if you've ignored particular corrections and later want to change the ignored text.

Managing Custom Dictionaries

When you install Word, you also install a main dictionary. The spelling checker uses the main dictionary whenever it checks your document for spelling errors. You can also add words to your custom dictionary or add existing dictionaries to the list of dictionaries Word uses to check documents.

When you click Add To Dictionary in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box, Word adds the selected term to your custom dictionary. After you add terms to your custom dictionary, Word checks both the main dictionary and your custom dictionary (named CUSTOM.DIC by default) whenever you run the spelling checker. You can also edit and delete terms in your custom dictionary as well as create additional custom dictionaries that you can use whenever necessary.

Modifying Custom Dictionaries

As mentioned, you can add terms to your default custom dictionary by clicking Add To Dictionary in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box. You can also add terms to your custom dictionary by right-clicking words that are flagged by a red wavy underline and choosing Add To Dictionary from the shortcut menu. Because adding terms to the custom dictionary is so easy, many users mistakenly add words that shouldn't be included, such as words or abbreviations that should be ignored in one document but might be incorrect in other documents. For example, you might want to allow the word lite in a marketing piece but have Word catch the misspelling in other documents. If you regularly add terms to your custom dictionary or if you suspect that you've added incorrect terms, you should review and manually correct your dictionary to ensure accuracy.

To access and modify your custom dictionary, follow these steps:

  1. Display the Spelling & Grammar tab (by choosing Tools, Options, and clicking the Spelling & Grammar tab; by pressing F7, and clicking Options; or by right-clicking the Spelling And Grammar Status icon, and choosing Options).

  2. Click Custom Dictionaries. The Custom Dictionaries dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 6-15. Notice that the CUSTOM.DIC dictionary is selected by default.

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    Figure 6-15: The Custom Dictionaries dialog box provides options for creating and modifying custom dictionaries that Word uses in conjunction with the main dictionary.

  3. Select a dictionary in the Dictionary List, and then click Modify to display a dictionary editing dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-16.


    Figure 6-16: The dictionary editing dialog box provides an easy way to create and modify custom dictionaries. In early versions of Word, editing dictionaries entailed modifying a plain text file.

    Within this dialog box, you can perform the following actions:

    • Manually add a term to a custom dictionary. Enter a term in the Word box, and click Add or press Enter. The dictionary automatically arranges terms alphabetically.

    • Delete a term included in a custom dictionary. Choose a word in the Dictionary list, and click Delete.

    • Specify a language for a custom dictionary. Click the Language box, and choose a language in the list. By default, the CUSTOM.DIC dictionary is set to All Languages.

  4. Click OK twice when you have finished modifying your custom dictionary.

    Tip 

    Remember the limitations of custom dictionaries  When you add terms to a custom dictionary, you should keep a few minor limitations in mind, namely the following:

    • Ensure that the words are 64 characters or fewer and do not contain spaces.

    • Ensure that the custom dictionary doesn't include over 5,000 words or is larger than 64KB.

    • Keep in mind that dictionaries are American National Standards Institute (ANSI) text files, which can only contain characters that conform to the ANSI encoding standard.

With careful maintenance of your custom dictionary, including adding frequently used terms, you can keep your spelling checker working at peak performance and increase your efficiency. With a well-maintained custom dictionary, you'll avoid having to continually dismiss terms that appear regularly in your documents but aren't included in the main dictionary.

Creating New Custom Dictionaries

At times, you might work on jargon-laden documents that use very specific terminology. For example, if you occasionally work on medical documents that contain terms such as brachytherapy, echography, and osteotomy, you could create a custom dictionary named Medical that you could activate whenever you're using medical terminology. To create a custom dictionary that you can use in addition to CUSTOM.DIC, follow these steps:

  1. Display the Spelling & Grammar tab in the Options dialog box (by choosing Tools, Options, and clicking the Spelling & Grammar tab; by pressing F7, and clicking Options; or by right-clicking the Spelling And Grammar Status icon, and choosing Options), and click Custom Dictionaries.

  2. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, click New. The Create Custom Dictionary dialog box appears. This dialog box displays a list of the custom dictionaries currently available to Word in the Proof folder. Figure 6-17 shows the Create Custom Dictionary dialog box, which contains the CUSTOM.DIC file and three additional custom dictionaries.

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    Figure 6-17: The Create Custom Dictionary dialog box enables you to create new dictionaries that you can use on an "as-needed" basis whenever you check documents.

  3. Type a name for the new custom dictionary in the File Name box, and click Save. When you create a custom dictionary, the file is saved with the .dic extension in the Proof folder, along with the CUSTOM.DIC file and any other custom dictionaries you've created.

After you create a new dictionary, it is added to the Dictionary List in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box and its check box is selected. When the spelling checker runs, it refers to the main dictionary and all custom dictionaries that are selected in the Dictionary List.

Tip 

Avoid suggestions from the main dictionary only  When you use custom dictionaries, make sure that the Suggest From Main Dictionary Only check box is cleared (the default setting) in the Spelling & Grammar tab in the Options dialog box. If this check box is selected, Word won't refer to your custom dictionaries when the spelling checker is started.

To add terms to a new custom dictionary, select the dictionary in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, click Modify, and then manually enter terms. You can also add terms to the dictionary as you work, as described in "Choosing a Default Dictionary,".

Tip 

Create a Names dictionary  You might want to create a Names dictionary that contains the names of people you interact with on a regular basis. Not only will this streamline spell checks by eliminating the repeated flagging of correctly spelled names, but you'll also avoid misspelling people's names in your documents because your custom dictionary will be keeping an eye on your spelling.

Adding Custom Dictionaries

Most of the time, you'll either use the CUSTOM.DIC dictionary or create a new custom dictionary. However, you can also add existing dictionaries to the Dictionary List in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box. For example, if you have Stedman's Medical Dictionary on your computer, you can add it to Word's list of custom dictionaries. Adding an existing dictionary is similar to creating a new custom dictionary. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. In the Spelling & Grammar tab in the Options dialog box, click Custom Dictionaries.

  2. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, click Add to display the Add Custom Dictionary dialog box, which looks almost identical to the Create Custom Dictionaries dialog box.

  3. Navigate to the desired dictionary file, and double-click the dictionary's file name. The dictionary will appear in the Dictionary List and its check box will be selected.

By default, custom dictionaries are stored in the \%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof folder. If you have a custom dictionary file (with a .dic extension), you can store the file in the Proof folder; it will then be easily accessible from the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.

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Converting an Existing List of Terms to a Custom Dictionary

If you have an existing list of terms or a style sheet containing terms you frequently use, you can create a custom dictionary without having to retype or copy all the terms in the dictionary editing dialog box. To convert a list to a custom dictionary, follow these steps:

  1. Verify that each term appears on a separate line with no blank lines inserted between terms. Then save your document as a plain text (.txt) file, and close the file.

  2. Right-click the file name in Windows Explorer, and rename the file using the .dic extension. (You might have to clear the Hide File Extensions For Known File Types check box in the View tab in the Folder Options dialog box in Windows Explorer in order to view file name extensions.)

  3. After you rename the file, store it in \%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof.

The next time you display the Add Custom Dictionary dialog box, you'll see your newly created dictionary listed among the available custom dictionaries. Double-click the newly added dictionary to add it to the Dictionary List in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.

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Choosing a Default Dictionary

By default, all terms you add to a dictionary while running a spelling check are added to the CUSTOM.DIC dictionary. You can change the custom dictionary in which added words are stored by changing the default custom dictionary. By reconfiguring your default dictionary, you can quickly build very specific custom dictionaries without having to enter terms manually. Let's return to the Medical dictionary example. While you're working on a medical document, you could specify the Medical dictionary as your default custom dictionary. Then whenever you click Add To Dictionary, the specified term would be added to the Medical dictionary instead of CUSTOM.DIC. Configuring Word in this way would serve two purposes: it would avoid adding unnecessary terms to the CUSTOM.DIC dictionary, and it would save you from manually typing terms in the Medical dictionary.

To specify which custom dictionary serves as the default file, perform the following simple actions:

  1. Choose Tools, Options, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and then click Custom Dictionaries to display the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.

  2. Select the custom dictionary you want to be the default in the Dictionary List.

  3. Click Change Default.

The default custom dictionary will appear at the top of the list with (default) after its name, as shown in Figure 6-18. Now when you add a word to your custom dictionary (by clicking Add To Dictionary in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box or right-clicking a word with a red wavy underline and then clicking Add To Dictionary in the shortcut menu), the term will be added to the new default custom dictionary.

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Figure 6-18: The default custom dictionary appears at the top of the Dictionary List, above the alphabetical list of custom dictionaries.

Disabling, Removing, and Deleting Dictionaries

Most of the time, you won't need to have Word check all your custom dictionaries every time you're working on a document. Therefore, you might want to disable some custom dictionaries until you need them. Other times, you might want to remove a custom dictionary from your Dictionary List altogether. Word allows you to do this without deleting the dictionary file. In some cases, you might want to delete a dictionary file because you no longer use it. You can perform all these tasks easily, from within the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, as follows:

  • Disable a dictionary Clear the dictionary's check box in the Dictionary List. When a dictionary's check box is cleared, Word doesn't refer to the dictionary when it checks spelling.

  • Remove a dictionary Select the name of the dictionary you want to remove in the Dictionary List, and click Remove. This action does not delete the file; it simply removes it from the Dictionary List.

  • Delete a dictionary Click New or Add, select the dictionary file name in the Create Custom Dictionary or Add Custom Dictionary dialog box, and press Delete (or right-click the dictionary file name, and choose Delete from the shortcut menu). Click Yes in the Confirm File Delete message box, and click Cancel to close the dialog box. This operation sends the dictionary file to your Recycle Bin. Finally, you'll want to remove the reference to the dictionary in the Custom Dictionaries list, as described in the preceding bulleted item.

Brushing Up Your Grammar

In addition to checking spelling, Word can check documents for grammatical correctness. In a nutshell, Word's grammar checker works by reviewing standard grammar-related issues in your documents and flagging potential errors with a wavy green underline. By design, the grammar checker focuses only on the most typical and frequent types of grammar problems, meaning that most but not all grammar issues will be flagged by the grammar checker.

As you become familiar with the grammar checker and its capabilities, you'll find that its usefulness varies quite markedly from one document to the next. In some documents, the grammar checker might catch all sorts of useful errors, but in other documents, the grammar checker might flag numerous potential errors that are in fact grammatically correct. Therefore, you'll probably want to turn the Grammar Checking feature on and off depending on the document you're working on.

Tip 

Control the grammar checker  You can turn the grammar checker on and off by selecting or clearing the Check Grammar check box in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box. Similarly, you can hide the green wavy underlines without disabling grammar checking by right-clicking the Spelling And Grammar Status icon, and choosing Hide Grammatical Errors from the shortcut menu.

Using the grammar checker in Word is similar to using the spelling checker, so you might want to refer to the descriptions of the spelling checker in this chapter to answer some of your questions about the grammar checker. However, the grammar checker has a few grammar-specific features of its own, which are discussed next.

Checking Your Grammar

To run the grammar checker, right-click a potential grammar error, and choose Grammar from the shortcut menu, or choose Tools, Spelling And Grammar, as described in "Benefiting from Automated Spelling and Grammar Checking,". To resolve a grammar issue in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box (or in the Grammar dialog box), you can modify the marked text (which appears green) by typing in the top box, or you can choose from among the following options:

  • Ignore Once Leaves the text as it is, without making any changes. Word removes the green wavy underline and displays the next grammar issue. If you click in the body of your document while the dialog box is open, the Ignore Once button changes to Resume, which you can click to continue checking grammar whenever you're ready to move on.

  • Ignore Rule Ignores the text and all other grammar issues that are classified as the same type of error. Word removes the green wavy underline from all instances and displays the next grammar issue.

  • Next Sentence Retains the current text without making changes and jumps to the next grammatical error.

  • Change Replaces existing text with the text selected in the Suggestions list.

  • Explain Displays the Office Assistant, which briefly describes the currently selected grammatical error.

In addition to these options, you can undo the last implemented correction (by clicking Undo), or display the grammar options (by clicking Options), as described next.

Configuring Grammar Options

Like the spelling checker, the grammar checker has options that you can configure in the Spelling & Grammar tab in the Options dialog box. As described earlier in this chapter, the first two check boxes in the Grammar section—Check Grammar As You Type and Hide Grammatical Errors In This Document—control whether the grammar checker is turned on or off and whether green wavy underlines appear in the document.

The third option—the Check Grammar With Spelling check box—performs essentially the same function as the Check Grammar check box in the Spelling And Grammar dialog box: It enables you to turn off the grammar checker while you're using the spelling checker. When you clear this check box, you can check spelling without addressing grammar issues. (The green wavy underlines used to flag potential grammar problems will continue to appear in your document if the Check Grammar As You Type check box is selected.) Selecting this option usually speeds up document checking because Word skips the grammar issues and presents only the potential spelling errors.

The remaining options in the Spelling & Grammar tab—the Writing Style and Settings options—enable you to define grammar rules that Word should follow, as discussed next.

Cross-Reference 

For more information about the Show Readability Statistics check box (found in the Grammar section of the Spelling & Grammar tab), see "Judging a Document's Readability Level,".

Specifying Grammar Rules

The grammar checker in Word can check up to 35 types of fundamental grammar rules and writing style options, ranging from finding double negatives and clichés to identifying incorrect verb tenses and passive sentence structures. To specify grammar rule settings, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Tools, Options, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and then specify whether you want the grammar checker to check grammar only or grammar and style by selecting the appropriate option in the Writing Style list.

  2. Click Settings. The Grammar Settings dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 6-19.

    click to expand
    Figure 6-19: You can pick and choose which grammar and style rules you want Word to use when it searches for potential grammatical errors.

  3. Select and clear the check boxes to configure which grammar rules you want Word to use when it searches for potential grammatical problems.

    Tip 

    View details of grammar and style options  To view brief descriptions of the grammar and writing style settings you can configure in the Grammar Settings dialog box, type grammar and writing style options in the Search For box in the Help task pane, and then click the green Start Searching button. In the results list, click the Grammar And Writing Style Options entry. To view details about each option, click the Show All link in the Microsoft Word Help window. The Help window presents a brief summary and examples of each grammar and style rule.



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Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out
Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out (Bpg-Inside Out)
ISBN: 0735615152
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 373

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