Oh, the lowly proofreader: Never as loved as an editor, never given the kudos they deserve for preventing us from sending a letter, manuscript, or proposal with horrible typos, terrible grammar, or misplaced punctuation.
These are the people who stop you from texting “Let’s eat Grandma” instead of “Let’s eat, Grandma.” They protect you from their, there, and they’re confusion. And your and you’re. Because “you’re spaghetti moved over their” is quite different from “your spaghetti moved over there.” (Although both are a bit alarming.)
There was no proofreader for the 1631 reprint of the King James Bible, which shared this message from the heavens: “Thou shalt commit adultery.” Pretty sure that’s not what they were going for, and this version became known as the Wicked or Adulterous Bible. The printers were fined £300 for the error, lost their printing license, and had nearly all copies destroyed. If only they’d had a proofreader!
So before you hit “send” or “share” again, be sure to read over your message and give your words a quick proofread.
Source: The Guardian
