Proofreading and slow food
Look out, here comes one of those writing posts. I didn’t plan this, but today I ran into such an obvious example of mindless writing online that I have to go there with you for a minute.
Because communicating clearly is what writing is all about. It’s not a bunch of rules to frustrate you. Good writing respects the reader to the extent that it strives to communicate as easily, as seamlessly as possible.
You would not prepare a soup and serve it without giving it a taste, would you?
If nothing else, good writing requires, demands, and mandates proofreading, absolutely every time without fail. Please take that statement as verbatim, irrefutable law. Part of my living is made by writing, and it’s still necessary for me to proof at least once, every email, update, and other iota that’s published online or elsewhere.
Because if you want to communicate and not just waste your time and everyone else’s, you must take the time to proofread.
Consider this sentence, culled from a news article I browsed today:
They also predicted using genetics alone many of those among study participants would be a centenarian.
Go ahead, read it again. See if you can make certain sense of it.
This was an article on CNN.com. Official sort of piece. Completely lacking proofreading, and therefore incomprehensible. What a shame. The news is confounding enough in its own right. Must its communication to me be equally garbled?
Okay, here’s what I think the author meant.
They also predicted, using genetics alone, many of those among study participants would be a centenarian.
Knowing that the article was about how scientists are now claiming to be able to predict which people will reach 100 years old in their lifetime, I can hazard a guess that the sentence and its sense might have been far better served stated thusly:
Using genetics alone, they also predicted that many of those among study participants would become centenarian.
And we sigh with relief. Here is language we can understand, language that cares enough about us to make sure it communicates cleanly, language that discretely disappears behind meaning.
Nobody really cares about grammar and proper usage, but we sure do care about understanding. It’s a fundamental need that can be satisfied by dedication to proofreading.
Like slow food, taking the time to proofread is a lifestyle choice that can boost returns in every area of your endeavor.
