Checking Spelling and Grammar


Microsoft Office Specialist: Correct spelling and grammar usage

Nothing detracts from a document like a typographical error, more commonly referred to as a typo , or an obvious grammatical error. Generations of students have been raised with the notion that it s the ideas that are important, and maybe that s true in school. But in the world of work, accurate spelling and grammar count. For example, job-application letters with typos often go straight in the recycling bin.

As we created the FAQ document in this chapter, we deliberately included a few errors. By default, Word checks the spelling of each word you type against its built-in dictionary and flags with a red, wavy underline any word it does not find. It also checks for grammatical errors, which it flags with a green, wavy underline. These features, called automatic spelling checking and automatic grammar checking, can be turned on or off on the Spelling & Grammar tab of the Options dialog box. (You might want to check out the other spelling and grammar options on this tab.)

Although Word s spelling and grammar checkers are a significant help, you can t rely on them to identify every error in your documents. Errors of syntax or improper word usage can easily slip by in any computerized spelling and grammar check. So you should still make it a habit to always proofread all your documents, especially before distributing printed or online copies.

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Checking grammar

When automatic grammar checking is turned on, Word works behind the scenes, checking your grammar as you type and underlining suspicious phrases with green, wavy underlines. Right-clicking underlined phrases displays a shortcut menu with suggested changes and other options. You can select an alternative, clickIgnore to leave the phrase as it is, or click Grammar to display the Grammar dialog box for more options. The usefulness of the grammar checker depends on the complexity of your writing. Only you can decide whether its suggestions are valid and helpful enough to warrant leaving it turned on. If you want to check the spelling of your documents without usingWord s grammar checker, on theTools menu, click Options, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and then deselect the Check grammar as you type and Check grammar with spelling check boxes.

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Checking the Spelling of One Word

Usually you will want to correct any errors Word identifies as you go along. Let s fix one of the misspelled words now:

  1. In the second body-text paragraph of the FAQ, right-click the word curunt .

    Word displays the shortcut menu shown on the next page.

    click to expand

    Word displays any words in its dictionary that come close to the offending word. It also gives you the options of ignoring the misspelling, adding the word to a supplemental dictionary, creating an AutoCorrect entry for the word, changing the language used, or displaying the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, which offers more options.

  2. Click current to change the word to its correct spelling.

Checking the Spelling of an Entire Document

If you prefer to check your spelling all at once, you can tell Word to work through an entire document stopping on any word it does not find in one of its dictionaries. Follow these steps to check spelling of the FAQ about the Glacier series of sleeping bags:

  1. Press Ctrl+Home to move to the top of the FAQ.

  2. On the Standard toolbar, click the Spelling and Grammar button.

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    Using the Spelling and Grammar Status icon

    If you want to move from one spelling or grammar error to the next without displaying the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, you can do so by using the Spelling and Grammar Status icon in the status bar, which resembles an open book. This icon has an X in its corner when it detects errors in the document, a moving pencil across it when the spelling and grammar checking tools are working, and a check mark when it detects no errors in the document. To highlight the first potential error and display its shortcut menu of options, double-click the Spelling and Grammar Status icon. To move to the next potential error, double-click the icon again. When Word finds no more errors in the document, the X becomes a check mark, indicating that the spelling and grammar check is complete.

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    Word starts with the word containing the insertion point, checking each word of the document against its built-in dictionaries and parsing phrases and clauses for grammatical errors. When it finds a word that is not in its dictionary or an element that it thinks is grammatically incorrect, it highlights the word or phrase in the document and displays the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, as shown in this graphic:

    Information about: Word s dictionaries, page 68

    click to expand

    As you can see, Word stopped on the word The , questioning whether the word should be capitalized. Because it is part of the company name it is correct.

  3. Click Ignore Rule .

    Next Word stops at the word zipperless . Although this term is not in Word s dictionary, it is correct.

  4. Click Ignore All .

    Next Word questions comforatable ”a genuine misspelling.

  5. Click Change to accept the suggested replacement, comfortable .

    Word comes to polester and suggests polestar .

  6. In the Suggestions list, click polyester , and then click Change .

    Next Word stops on ChillFill . You have spelled this name correctly and use it often. To prevent Word from flagging it as a misspelling every time, you want to add it to Word s supplemental dictionary, which is called Custom.dic. (You can t add words to Word s main dictionary.)

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    Smart checking

    If your document contains duplicate words, such as the the, Word displays them in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box during a spelling and grammar check.Clicking Delete removes the duplicate word. To speed up the checking process, Word s suggestions generally have the same case as a misspelled word. For example, if the misspelling occurs at the beginning of a sentence and starts with a capital letter,Word s suggestions also start with capital letters.

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  7. Click the Add to Dictionary button.

  8. Repeat step 7 to add CozyTec to the supplemental dictionary.

  9. As Word continues the spelling check, change materiuls to materials and assembulled to assembled .

  10. When Word flags the company e-mail address, click Add to Dictionary to add the address to the supplemental dictionary.

    Word reaches the end of the document, closes the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, and displays a message that the spelling and grammar check is complete.

  11. Click OK to return to your document.

  12. Save the document.

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The Thesaurus

You can use the thesaurus in Word to look up synonyms for a selected word by clicking Language and then Thesaurus on the Tools menu. (If theThesaurus command isn t on your Language menu, you will need to install the thesaurus first.) The Thesaurus dialog box suggests alternative words for the selected word. Select the new word in the Replace with Synonym list, and click theReplace button. You can also select an alternative word and click Look Up to display a list of alternatives for the word.

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Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Word 2002
Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Word 2002
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 74

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