04 Correcting Text

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Word Version: XP

Assumed Knowledge: None

 

 

The aim of the tutorial is to:

 

show you how to check and correct the spelling and grammar of your document and to use the thesaurus by using various tools provided by Word.

Checking and correcting text

Word can automatically check your text for spelling and grammar errors as you type. Words that have been spelled incorrectly will be underlined with a red zig-zag line and grammatical errors will be underlined with a green zig-zag line.

To open up the Spelling and Grammar box in one of three ways:

  1. Click on Tools in the menu bar, then click on Spelling and Grammar; or
  2. Click on the Spelling and Grammar button on the standard toolbar (has a blue tick with 'ABC' written above it); or
  3. Press the F7 key (among the top row of keys on the keyboard).

The Spelling and Grammar dialogue box will appear. Notice that the blue bar at the top of this box will also show you which language has been selected. The box will show you the first mistake found in the document and show the misspelled word in red.

Spelling

To correct a mispelled word using a given suggestion:

  1. Check the Suggestions box to find a suggestion of how the word should be spelled.
  2. Click on the correctly spelled suggestion.
  3. Click on Change (or Change All if all occurrences of the mispelled word in the document are to be corrected in the same way).
  4. Word will continue to check the document for spelling mistakes. If you want to stop the spell check click on Close.

To correct a mispelled word when the correct suggestion is not given:

  1. Check the Suggestions box to find a suggestion of how the word should be spelled.
  2. If there is no correctly spelled suggestion correct the spelling in the Not in Dictionary box.
  3. Click on Change (or Change All if all occurrences of the mispelled word in the document are to be corrected in the same way).
  4. Word will continue to check the document for spelling mistakes. If you want to stop the spell check click on Close.

To store a correctly spelled word that Word would otherwise show as incorrect:

  1. Click on the Add button to add the word to the dictionary (this is particularly useful if the word will be typed often in one or more documents).
  2. Word will continue to check the document for spelling mistakes. If you want to stop the spell check click on Close.

To ignore a word that is shown as incorrect but you are certain is spelled correctly (such as someone's name):

  1. Click on the Ignore (or Ignore All if the same word appears more than once in the document).
  2. Word will continue to check the document for spelling mistakes. If you want to stop the spell check click on Close.

Grammar

As long as the Check Grammar box is selected in the Spelling and Grammar dialogue box (bottom left), Word will check the grammar of the document. If you do not want the grammar checked, remove the tick from this box (i.e. click on it).

If Word finds a grammar mistake, it will be shown in the box as the spelling errors. The mistake is highlighted in green:

To correct gramma using a given suggestion:

  1. Check the Suggestions box to find a suggestion of the correct grammar.
  2. Click on the suggested grammar that you think is correct.
  3. Click on Change.
  4. Word will continue to check the grammar in the document. If you want to stop this click on Cancel.

To ignore a grammatical suggestion:

  1. Click on the Ignore (or Ignore Rule if the same grammatical style appears more than once in the document).
  2. Word will continue to check the document for grammar. If you want to stop the spell check click on Cancel.

To halt Word from checking the spelling and gramma of your document:

  1. Click on Tools in the menu bar.
  2. In the pop-down menu click on Options.
  3. In the Options box, click on the Spelling & Grammar tab.
  4. Click on Check spelling as you type and Check grammar as you type (so that the associated ticks disappear).
  5. click OK.

Using the Thesaurus

The thesaurus enlables you to use find words that have the same or similar meaning. It is a useful tool. If you were to look up the word 'useful' in the thesaurus one of the words that it will suggest is 'helpful', another is 'handy'. So you could say the thesaurus is a 'useful', 'helpful' or 'handy' tool and mean more or less the same thing.

To activate the thesaurus:

  1. Use the mouse to select a word from your document.
  2. Click on Tools in the menu bar.
  3. In the pop-down menu move the pointer to Language.
  4. In the next menu click on Thesaurus.
    The Thesaurus box will appear on the screen with a blue bar at the top showing the set language:

    5. A list of meanings and synonyms related to the word you highlighted will be given in the box.

  5. Double-click on the words in the Meanings box or click on the Look Up button to view similar words. Double-click words in the Replace with Synonym box to view synonyms of those words. Highlight the word you would like to add and click on the Replace button.

 

Exercises

For exercises to practice the above click here.

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