How to use a computer spell check

Now that your computer spell checker is set up to use the correct language dictionary, here's how it should be used.

1. You have misspelled (or mistyped) a word. The computer will offer you a replacement spelling, with sometimes more than one possibility (depending on how far off the correct spelling you have gone). You may need to consult a dictionary (paper or internet based) to ensure the alternative spelling you choose is right in the context of your sentence.

2. You have spelled a word correctly, however, the computer does not recognise the word. This often occurs in the case of proper nouns, such as a person's name or a street, suburb or city name. It may also occur in the case of abbreviations, such as "Dr". You will be given the option to accept this spelling by clicking on 'ignore all' to allow all instances of this same spelling wherever they appear in your document.

A word of caution - for all that the spell checker is an excellent tool to employ, it will not identify incorrect spelling of a word in a particular context. For instance, in the sentence, 'The girls dressed in there finest gowns for the ball', the word 'there' would not be identified by spell checker. Of course, 'their' is the correct spelling in the context of this sentence. For this reason, a writer should not rely completely on spell checker to 'fix' their writing, rather, it should be used as one of the several tools every good writer employs.

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