The Impotence of Proofreading

As an English teacher for students in grades 9-12, looking out for spelling or grammatical mistakes isn't just my day job, it's my passion. I get a kick out of catching mistakes in published books, magazines, or newspapers. I really do. I have even been known to manually correct these mistakes on the printed page. Something about finding those mistakes, whether it's the writer's inability to distinguish between than/then, theirs/there's, or my personal favorite, its/it's, makes my brain hurt. So I just have to correct them. You know, to make my brain happy.

Now I know that mistakes happen sometimes. I'm not trying to say I'm perfect. God knows I'm not! I'm sure some of my blog posts might have an error or two in them. And mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, because they can serve as learning tools. But when the mistakes are plentiful, when it's obvious the writer did not even glance at his/her paper before handing it in, that's when I take it personally. Because it's a lack of respect to the reader, which is motivated in turn by a lack of caring on the part of the writer -- he/she couldn't spare the extra second to proofread his/her work because he/she just doesn't care.  He/she doesn't care about you, the reader. Or if the paper ever gets read. In fact, he/she is probably hoping it never gets read. Especially by someone wielding a red pen.

What did you think of the video? Do you proofread any work you write before submitting it, whether academically or professionally?

Kudos to my bloggy friend Asheyna for sending me the video! You inspired this post. :)