Sonia Jaffe Robbins, Editing Workshop, G54.1123, WEEK III

"Why not just use the spellchecker?"

All computer word-processing programs come with spell checkers these days, so why not just use them? Who needs the dictionary?

Spell checkers have limited usefulness. They are useless

for homonyms, in which English abounds: e.g., their or there; hear or here;

for proper names: only the commonest English names are included in most spell checkers;

for typos that create real words: e.g., "direction" for "directing," "me" for "more," but also such "elegant errors"* as "untied" for "united" or "martial" for "marital."

Worse still, spell checkers, used uncritically, can introduce errors. Often spell checkers will suggest a "corrected" spelling that actually replaces one part of speech for another. Below is a sampling of such errors under the guise of spelling corrections suggested by Microsoft's spell checker.

Word	Suggested "correction"
grandiosely (adverb)	grandiosity (noun)
healthfully (adverb)	healthful (noun)
quintessentially (adverb)	quintessential (adjective)
likably (adverb)	likable (adjective)
hauntings (plural noun)	haunting (singular noun)
genocides (plural noun)	genocide's (possessive)
puzzlements (plural noun)	puzzlement's (possessive)
Kennedys (plural proper noun)	Kennedy's (singular possessive proper noun)
D.A.'s (possessive)	DAs (plural noun; note deleted periods)
zestier (comparative adjective)	zesty (adjective)
dissociative (adjective)	dissociate (verb)
leftism (abstract noun)	leftist (person)
cashless (adjective)	cashes (verb)
hijinks (noun)	hijacks (verb)

In addition, the possessive of a proper name ending in "s" is often viewed as a possible mistake.

Word	Suggested "correction"
Carrels's	Carrel's

All of these errors occur because the dictionary is not a thinking human, but a machine. It is programmed using mathematics, which is not how humans process language and meaning. By all means, use the spell check as a backup, after you've read through the story once for human meaning. Rely on your own mind as the first line of defense against misspelled words, then use the spell check to catch your own mistakes.

* Thanks to Wendy Masri for the phrase "elegant errors."