We’ve all done it.  Ran a quick spell-check on an email and just accepted the changes.  Then you find out you have auto-corrected your phrase from something that makes sense to something completely different.   Instead of getting to the ‘heart of the matter’ you have gotten to the ‘hearth’ of it because you mistyped hearh instead of heart. 

Or perhaps you didn’t change a misused word because it passed your spell- and grammar-check.  Grammar check might be smart enough to know ‘effect’ from ‘affect’ but you are smarter than your spelling or grammar checker (at least some of the time).  If you don’t add certain technical terms or less commonly used words to your personal dictionary, you will be prompted to change it to the incorrect word.

Take the time to read your emails, text messages and documents and do a proper proofread before hitting the send button.  One trick I use is to compose longer emails in my word processing program before cutting and pasting into my email.  I even change the font using ‘Paste Special’ so that I can look at it in a different frame of reference.  Sometimes it is easy to miss mistakes when you get used to looking at it on a screen in a certain format. 

Remember—mistakes do make an impression.  We are all human and we all will make mistakes.  Keep in mind, though, when you are trying to present a professional face to the world and our written word is all our reader has to judge us by, those mistakes will stand out.  These software tools can make it easier to avoid errors, but use them with care.