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Using the Spell Checker and Other Tools

Spell Check

In business and schoolwork, it is important that there be no spelling mistakes in documents. Today, word processing software is programmed to help you with your spelling. If you spell a word wrnog, the software will underline it with a rede wavey liene. If you right click on the underlined word, you will get suggestions for the correct spelling. You have the option of choosing one of the program’s suggestions or ignoring all of them. Correcting as you go is a helpful feature, especially when keying long documents.

Correct the spelling of the words throughout this tutorial by right-clicking on them.

You may also choose to have the software go through all or part of your document at one time instead of clicking on each misspelt word individually. To use this feature in Word, click on the Review tab and choose Spelling and Grammar from the menu. Spell check will start to check the document from the piont at which you have placed your cursor. It will highlight words that the dictionary in your software does not recognize, showing you the word you have keyed and providing suggestions for the correct spelling.

Many people assume that if they use the Spell Check feature they do not have to proofread their work. This is not the case. The Spell Check occasionally misses mistakes like when you key “bet” instead of “get” or when you use “their” when you should have used “there.” Also, many Spell Checkers use an American dictionery and mark Canadian spellings such as “colour” and “favourite” as incorrect. To change the type of dictionary used, double click on the language button at the bottom left of the page.

Read the poem in file called “Spell Checker Poem” in the Word Processing folder.

Grammar Check

Another automated feature in most word processing programs is the Grammar Checker, which is designed to check for alot of grammatical errors such as an overly long sentence or a misssing question mark. The software will underline the secction in question with a green wavy line. You can correct the eror as shown or ignore the sugestion. Again you should beware. The Grammar Check can be wrong and sometimes misinterprets the intended meaning of your sentence.

Place your cursor at the start of the document and use the Spelling and Grammar checker to correct this whole document.

Thesaurus

“What’s another word for . . . ?” How many times have you asked yourself this question while working on a document? The Thesaurus is the feature that can help you. Click your cursor on the word you want to replace, then, choose Thesaurus from the Review tab menu. You can also highlight the word you want to replace and type ‘shift + f7’ to bring up the thesaurus. This tool will list the different ways that the word you want to replace can be used. A word of warning, however. Do not just choose any word from the list the Thesaurus suggests. Not all words are necessarily an appropriate match for the word you want to replace. You must check the context carefully.

Use the thesaurus to find three appropriate replacements for the word “appropriate.”

Translate

MS Word can also translate your document into a number of different languages. Simply highlight and copy the text you wish to translate, then select the Review tab and translate. Paste the text selection into the ‘Search for:’ section, then choose the language you wish to translate your text to and look at the Microsoft Translator section. To insert it into the document, simply click the Insert button.

I love using MS Word. It is so smart and the translations are always perfect! Just kidding, it won’t ensure that you pass your French essays but it can be handy.

Translate the above paragraph by first copying and pasting it into the ‘Search for’ space, then translate it from English, to Arabic, to Japanese, to Greek, to French, and then back to English. Note, you have to copy and paste each paragraph of different languages into the search for space in order for it to work. When you are done, you should have the paragraph written in 6 different languages not including the original. Compare the final one with the original.

Help

One of the most useful features of any software program is the Help Menu. The three common parts to most Help menus are -- the Contents (similar to a Table of Contents), the Index (list of all the topic headings) and Find (which locates every instance of a particular word). The Find or Search feature allows you to ask a question about any feature of the software.

Use the Search feature to find out how to determine the number of words are in this document.

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