Spelling Matters

Why does spelling matter? If you spell correctly, readers take you seriously. If you don’t take the time to correct your spelling, they might not take the time to read what you write.

Spelling might not matter in a text to a friend or when you’re scribbling down something you want to remember, but when you’re writing for others, it matters.

What are the most common spelling mistakes I see my students’ writing?

too/to
their/there/they’re
your/you’re
its/it’s
definitely/defiantly
then/than
lose/loose

Almost all of us have made errors with these words, but some writers make more errors than others. If you’re a terrible speller, don’t panic.

I know some amazingly smart people who can’t spell well, and your weak spelling skills have nothing to do with how smart you are or with your ability to write an amazing story. You just need to fix your errors.

But, how do you catch your spelling errors if you aren’t a great speller?

1) Pay attention to the red and green squiggly lines marking words in your word processing program.

2) Have a good speller review your work. People generally know if they are good spellers or not, so just ask them.

3) Read your text backwards – sounds crazy but it makes you look at every individual word.

4) Use your word processing program to search for commonly misspelled words like “too” and “to” and make sure you’ve picked the correct one.

5) Install Grammarly on your computer – a free and pretty good spelling and grammar checker.

If you can’t spell, admit it, get help, and fix those errors.