Since the Internet, people have become more lazy in their spelling habits. While abbreviating terms and words may seem like fun when texting, tweeting, and communicating on social media, spelling correctly in your book is important. If you use Microsoft Word, Open Office, or a similar word processing program, the spell checker will catch some errors and typos, but it won’t catch them all. Many typos contain words that are spelled correctly but are the wrong form of the word.

One common example is “there,” “their,” and “they’re.”  The proper uses of these three words that all sound the same, are as follows:

There – (a place, location, destination) We are going there after we get out of work.

Their – (possessive) It is their car. The package is theirs.

They’re (contraction ) They are the owners. –  They’re the owners.

You can buy a dictionary or use a good online dictionary, such as dictionary.com. I think it’s smart to have both options available as you won’t always be online while you are preparing materials for your book.

Correct Spelling Of Places, Cities, Streets, and Names

City and street names can sometimes have unusual spellings. Check all location spellings on a map to be sure they are correct. Many times a city, street, or building may be named after a person. We are a country built on immigration, which can mean street names may be difficult to spell for people not familiar with them. There are also different spellings of both first and last names that are pronounced the same way. There are hundreds of names this could apply to. Here are just a few.

 

Johnson – Johnsen – Jonsen

Hayes – Hays

Hanson – Hansen

Sheryl – Cheryl

John – Jon

Alicia – Alisia

Leanne – Leigh Ann – Leann

Always double check your spelling and be sure to use the right form of the word. We’ll have more on WORDS in another post. So keep checking back!

 

Judith Hayes