As one of my visitors so wisely stated, spellcheck is NOT the same as having a proofreader. When I am doing proofreading and editing for my clients, most of the spelling or usage errors I find I am fixing are due to confusing words. I use spellcheck in my word documents and in my email program BUT these just find actual spelling ERRORS and cannot be relied on to help you with the correct USAGE of the confusing words!

I shared some of these confusing words in earlier posts. They are A couple of spelling tips I have got to share and editing tips I want to share #2, but the above mentioned confusingwords.com can help show why you can NOT rely on a spellchecker to ensure your documents are correct.

Spelling & Grammar Errors Are Costing You Business! – For reliable and affordable proofreading & editing, remember …

I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing,
proofreading and transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

Transcribing audio to text for reports, ebooks, etc. can be so much easier for the transcriptionist to DO and do so with maximum accuracy if, as a speaker, you use a clear and steady voice when making your recorded event.

In a moment, I will share with you a prime example of this as with permission from the speaker I am going to show you just what I mean.

I have done now quite a few transcriptions which were made much more difficult than they needed to be by the following:

*People talking so fast it is a wonder they can understand themselves

*People talking over each other and interrupting each other – this is especially difficult to decipher when you have two or more voices that are very similar!

*People who interrupt themselves to go off on another train of thought completely and then jump back to the prior subject

*People with – to be honest – horrible grammar – who do NOT want these errors fixed when being transcribed!

*People who make it obvious that there was NO PLAN on what to be said or discussed so there is no flow or rhythm to what is being said

*People who repeat the same thing several times but there is no sequence to let the transcriber know when to leave it and when to remove it

*People who come in and out of range of their microphones or whatever recording device they are using – I have done some where I had to send the file to the interviewer or interviewee with unknown and unclear notations for whole paragraphs of audio I could not hear or figure out or even give my best guess at

I know there are others and realize them AS I am doing a transcription, but these are just off the top of my head … IF you are planning on having your audio event transcribed, it might be a good idea to type up one of your shows or seminars or webinars, etc. yourself and you just might be surprised at how difficult this can be, especially for someone that probably does not know YOU or is not used to the way you speak.

Most of my Transcription Clients have, mercifully, been great voices and conversationalists TO transcribe. I appreciate that and them so very much. A normal, easy to hear and understand ONE HOUR audio file can take up to six hours to transcribe, proofread and edit. Obviously, having to stop several times to re-hear and try to translate and/or decipher is going to take even longer.

Now, on to that prime example of an interesting, fun, and CLEAR speaker who obviously has planned out what she is going to say AND has a great delivery as she is saying it – I would like to introduce you to Ann Evanston, The Warrior-Preneur and a savvy biz lady who shares “thoughts, inspiration and education – warrior style!” and one of my favorite videos of Ann’s – The Social Psychology of Social Media.

Listen to Ann’s clear, steady voice with a nice, even flow – this is just the type of speaker that is a joy to transcribe!

thanks, Ann, for the permission to use you as my prime example
and also for being a favorite and appreciated client!

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing , proofreading and
transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

Today, I would like to share some more spelling helper tips. This is what I love and one of the few things I have confidence and sureness in.

Last week alone, I noticed several instances of:

no
know

being used incorrectly on web pages and blogs. Okay, if you use twitter or text a message, you will often use the shorthand “no” when you mean “know”, just as we use C for see and 2 for to, two OR too, but in any other context, no is a reply in the negative OR short for none, as in ” I have no idea”, etc.

The other know is a short version of KNOWLEDGE, as in “I don’t know.

Probably the next often one that I catch is seen and scene . Seen is the past tense of saw or see, as in, for example, ” I have seen the light. Scene is a place, like “the scene of the crime.

A detective might say, “I have seen the evidence that the perpetrator left at the scene of the robbery.”

One I do not see used often but comes to mind is sheer . This would be an adjective and one of its meanings is see-through. Its sound-the-same word that could be confused with it would be shear as when the wool is shaved off of a lamb.

Maybe surprisingly, two words that sound exactly the same that I rarely see used in the wrong context are our meaning “belonging to us” and hour which is “sixty minutes”, but that might be because the meanings are SO obvious that no one seems to get them mixed up.

My last set of words today is except and accept and I see these mixed up a LOT.

The word except is used where you want to signify an “exception” or and exclusion. “We are going to visit all of the relatives except Aunt Lucy, as she is sick.”

Accept means that you will take, allow, settle for, etc. as in, “I accept your challenge,” or “I am glad to accept your proposal.”

I am willing to accept part of the package, except for the broken glasses.”

I hope these little tips and examples are of some help to my readers.
I love proofreading and editing and knowing that a lot of online bloggers and webmasters cannot afford to hire someone to do these simple fixes for them makes me glad to share some of my very limited, but SO important, knowledge with them.

I really and truly want to see you present yourself and your business in the best possible light and although, admittedly, a lot of your visitors might not notice errors, or even CARE if they do, if even ONE potential client or customer is turned off by grammar and / or spelling errors and leaves your site with a bad impression, that is one too many!

I am fast and efficient with this service, as my satisfied clients are happy to attest to AND generally manage to proofread and edit from 4 to 5 pages or more per hour. Do NOT let the $20 per hour rate scare you off – I do not piddle around and waste YOUR time OR mine and get as much as it is possible to accurately get done in your hour AND the job is not done until YOU are satisfied, so you have nothing to lose and more time to do what you like to do or are best at to gain.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing , proofreading and
transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com