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The Easiest Method for Catching Silly Grammar Mistakes in Your Paper

After writing an eight to 12 page paper for your latest undergraduate course, the last thing you want to do is submit it and lose points for a few grammatical errors. However, reading thousands of your own words that you just lovingly pounded out rarely catches all the errors. In addition, you may not always have a peer to review your work at 3:00 AM.

The surest way to catch errors is to read the paper out loud. It sounds silly, and it will even feel awkward at first, but it works. Additionally it does not require you asking a favor from a fellow student or family member, who likely would struggle just with the subject matter, let alone the grammar.

Reading your paper aloud often works better than Microsoft Word’s most sophisticated grammar checks. For example, this sentence appears with no errors in Word.

Yet, before his betrayal, Benedict Arnold’s most important contribution to the American Revolutionary Wars was his military mind.

The mistake in that sentence is so slight that even the most extraordinary reader may not catch it. However, there is only one American Revolutionary War.

While reading to yourself, your eyes may jump ahead, as you scan over the sentence, but when you read it aloud, your eyes, mind, and voice are engaged in interpreting that sentence.

Here is another example:

Stonewall Jackson’s approach to warfare is more akin to Sun Tzu than Jomini, as he tended to play more value on surprise and maneuver than on a concentration of force.

In this instance, Stonewall would probably place more value than he would play more value. Again, grammar checkers do not catch this sort of thing and the difference between place and play is so slight that the mistake becomes difficult to catch through silent reading.

Read your next paper out loud. You will be amazed at the improvement you can make.

By Scott Manning
Online Learning Tips, Student Contributor

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