I dare say everyone who writes at all regularly, even for casual purposes, knows that it’s vital to have access to a dictionary. And with so many of them now online for free, there’s really not much of an excuse not to use one.
But what about a style guide? Do you need to use one? And by “use,” I mean “have access to and perhaps own.” Isn’t that like a usage guide? No. A style guide is not a usage guide. Most of them contain some usage guidance, but that’s not the point of a style guide.
I tweaked one setting. Now let’s see if it did what I think it’ll do.
Move along. Nothin’ ta see here.
. . . of the Jetpack Publicize system. Had this been an actual blog post, you would have received scintillating discussion about GUM issues, perhaps with a delightful amuse bouche to top it all off.
But it’s not. It’s a test post, so there’s none of that. I’m hoping to see this on G+, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Twitter shortly after I push the button.
PUSH THE BUTTON, FRANK. ::click::
. . . of the Jetpack Publish system. Had this been an actual post, you would have received delightful and amusing discussion of GUM issues, perhaps with an amuse bouche to top it all off.
But it’s not. It’s only a test. So . . . I’m hoping you’ll be seeing this on Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and G+ after I push the button.
PUSH THE BUTTON, FRANK. ::click::
I did a little searching earlier for likely candidates for my daily post here, and I found this.
Am I troubled? Yes, I am.
Do I understand their reasoning? I do, but I don’t agree with it (obviously, or I wouldn’t be posting this, would I?).
Yes, spellcheckers have their useful moments. Do I think their existence negates the need to know proper spelling without their help? I do not. Do I wish that Word didn’t auto-correct words while I’m typing? Sometimes, yes. I’m capable of correcting my own errors, thanks. (And I am sometimes paid to correct those of others.)
Granted, the school is adding “a word usage section” focusing on the kinds of errors spellcheckers will miss, such as that set of triplets up in the title. I suppose I should be grateful for that much; at least they’re (holy cats, I just used one!) going to expect students to be able to tell the difference, and know which spelling is correct in a given instance.
I should be grateful. Somehow, I’m not.
Sincerely,
BrainBench is a highly regarded job-testing site, used by many Fortune 500 companies as a hiring selection tool. I myself had a profile there (my certs have expired, so I don’t talk it up anymore–and won’t, until I can afford to recertify), and my husband still does.
Apparently they don’t use their own tests on their own hires, though. If they did, I suspect this post found “out there” might have been corrected before release. Sad. Sad, sad, sad.
“See what are tests on Brainbench Currently FREE. Also check out the Beta test section is a great way Which to get practice on the latest titles. http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/freetests.xml ”
::sigh::
Grammargeddon! 