Why you can't rely on spell check alone

Millions of times a day, an MS Word document is created. Then the document’s creator uses the spell check function and figures that everything is magically taken care of. But all kinds of errors can be missed that way. In fact, some sentences that started out great can be turned into incomprehensible garbage after your spell checker gets through with them.

Spell check can miss or even cause spelling and punctuation errors. It has a limited vocabulary, and if it doesn’t recognize a word you’re trying to use, it might try swapping it out for another one that rhymes instead. Sometimes it tries sticking apostrophes into words that don’t need them — like plurals, for instance — while citing unrelated language rules.

It also misses some words that are spelled right, but which don’t belong in the sentence. For example, “Her mother said she ban go to the store” is considered correct because the word “ban” isn’t technically misspelled.

That’s why it’s necessary to read and then reread what you have written, and enlist a second pair of eyes to help you. Never rely on MS Word’s spell check function alone to get the job done.