Writing posts - Writers Forum

Olly Buckle · 11-07-2007, 06:37 PM

The more you think about what you write as comment the better your chances of writing something worth reading.
"I like that, good work."
Reactive, little glow
"I like that because..."
Bit bigger glow
"But"
Sit up

Spellcheck underlines words in red if they are misspelled and offers you alternatives if you press right click on them, if the word you submit does not occur, for example misspelt for misspelled. It does not work for things like bow for bough, or fare for fair and if you spell English rather than American it will tell you you are wrong, but most of the time it works.
Many of you of course will know this but looking through the posts I can see there are those who don't. No one wanting to write would be such
a moron
or imbecile
as to ignore such a useful tool if they knew it existed and how to use it.

Fair copy
It's easy really, imagine having to pull the sheet of paper out of the typewriter and find the tippex every time you made a mistake, imagine using a pen, "revise revise revise" indeed! Jane Austen must have been responsible for the destruction of a small forest, make it look right, you are on parade to the world here.
It is worth learning to type so you watch what is coming up on the screen, typing with two fingers is
retarded,
grow out of it. There are some good free learning programs. It is not hard.

Rumrunner · 11-07-2007, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Olly Buckle:
if you spell English rather than American it will tel you you are wrong

In fact, in most major writing software you can change to an English reference dictionary rather than the American one. In MS Word it's under the tools dropdown - go to Tools - Language - Set Language, then scroll down to where it says "English (UK)." Then it'll allow real spellings and reject Americanized ones.

But also, "tel?" Maybe you should use spellcheck

Olly Buckle · 11-07-2007, 07:26 PM

I couldn't, I only started on a keyboard in my middle fifties, when I first stated writing a bit before that I used pencil and paper and I am bloody useless at making computers work still. Seriously, I will come back and try it, if you don't try you don't learn but it is much too late to learn now, that post must have taken me most of an hour and a half to compose and it's been a long day.
But to illustrate my ignorance, in the piece above I tried to make moron or imbecile a nice little diamond in the middle of the page, like Voodoo might, and every time I hit save it jumped back to the edge of the page; I couldn't center "fair copy" or "retarded" either (Aside, Voodoo has had a considerable effect on my composition hasn't he?) and my daughter helped me put my avatar on this evening, look it's me!
I don't know the meaning off hand but tel doesn't come up on the spell check, saves me a red face in one way but I should have spotted it, thank you.

Rumrunner · 11-07-2007, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Olly Buckle:
I don't know the meaning off hand but tel doesn't come up on the spell check, saves me a red face in one way but I should have spotted it, thank you.

Huh... you're right. My spell check won't flag "tel," either. You learn something new every day.

wheelz1138 · 11-07-2007, 08:14 PM

tel - Definitions from Dictionary.com

Rumrunner · 11-07-2007, 08:50 PM

*OFF TOPIC:*

wheelz, those are all prefixes, abbreviations, or acronyms. So technically, I would think spellcheck should still flag them, especially since it was written "tel," not "tel." "tel-" "TEL" or "T.E.L." But, that could just be the English-speaking world's increasing disregard for proper grammar seeping into spellcheck programming, too, I guess -- it wouldn't surprise me. My Webster's Unabridged has only has those entries, too.

Olly Buckle · 11-08-2007, 03:32 AM

My Complete Oxford gives "number" from Middle English, the last quote is from 13th century "One hundred is full tel and considered perfection". Fancy my computer knowing that.

Rumrunner · 11-08-2007, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Olly Buckle:
Fancy my computer knowing that.

I think you're giving your computer too much credit for that. "Tel" in that context is just an earlier spelling of modern "tell," which can be used in that context but would be considered very archaic.

And just as a test of spellcheck's Middle English ability, I typed the first clause of Cantebury Tales into MS Word without modernization:

Quote:

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote / The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, / And bathed every veyne in switch licour / of which vertu engendred is the flour;

It flagged Whan, Aprill, shoures, soote, droghte, perced, roote, veyne, licour, vertu, and engendred.

So I'm pretty sure that's just bad grammar on the part of spellcheck, not a knowledge of Middle English.

Olly Buckle · 11-08-2007, 04:09 AM

Enough already, you are almost as sad as me.

JohnN · 11-08-2007, 06:19 AM

Can you really rely on Microsoft to sort out your spelling and grammar? Let's be serious, it makes life easier but you have to double check some things. MS loves calling sentences "fragments - consider alternative use" when they are fine.

Olly Buckle · 11-08-2007, 07:47 AM

Of course you can't, but, at the risk of sounding like Ox, it would make a good start for some people.
The other thing that gets to me is people who use i instead of I, I want to say "You are important capitalise yourself" then I realise they use the letter far more than average, they already think they are important, they are just lazy with it.

The Backward OX · 11-08-2007, 08:13 AM

Hey! Here I was, having a quiet little read as a wind-down to beddy-byes, and what do I find? My name being taken in vain. Now I'm wide awake again. Grrr.

Olly Buckle · 11-08-2007, 11:34 AM

In vain? You mean you enjoy reading those people who can't spell and are too damned lazy to look at the spell check? That you are tolerant of mixed tenses? You positively welcome inappropriate plurals? It doesn't annoy the f..k out of you when people refer to themselves as i? You don't feel the deepest scorn when people make the mistakes that point them out to be two finger typists? You think "Nice work" is an appropriate comment when some one sweated blood? You laugh merrily when people mix two and too or mistake them for to? I think not. I think you are much more like me, just that I call spades spades and you call them bloody shovels, when shovels are things with edges on for shifting aggregates. By the way do you know what a grafting tool is? A sort of narrow spade with a curved blade used to dig trenches in London clay, hard graft.

Non Serviam · 11-08-2007, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle

if you spell English rather than American it will tell you you are wrong

My machine doesn't, it has a Commonwealth English dictionary installed by default. If I type "color" it corrects it to "colour".

wheelz1138 · 11-08-2007, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnN

Can you really rely on Microsoft to sort out your spelling and grammar?

MS cheated me out of a perfect grade on an essay once. A single comma, "inappropriately used," which grammar check said was fine. It may have ultimately been my mistake, but the grammar check should have helped.