What Spell Check Won't Check

by Christa

What if I told you that the spell check feature we now find in all word processing programs has dulled our abilities to, well…spell?  Think about it – as long as spell check is there for you, you can sit back and let it work its magic.  You no longer have to think about whether you’ve spelled something correctly, because spell check will do that thinking for you.  But what if I also told you that spell check has a critical blind spot?  Spell check works as long as you’ve spelled a word that can’t be found in the English dictionary, but if you write “your” when you should be writing “you’re,” spell check doesn’t bat an eye.

The following is a list of words that you, as the writer, should be careful not to confuse…because spell check won’t call you out on it:

  1. your / you’re: Your is a possessive adjective that must be followed by a noun (e.g. your bag), while you’re is a contraction for you are. 
  2. its / it’s: Like your, its is also a possessive adjective that must be followed by a noun, while it’s – similar to you’re – is a contraction for it is.
  3. there / their / they’re: There can mean a number of things, depending on context, so it may be easiest to know when you should use it by clarifying when you shouldn’t.  There is also a possessive adjective that must be followed by a noun, while they’re is a contraction for they are.  Any other use of there should be spelled there.
  4. affect / effect: In spoken English, the pronunciation of these words is hardly different.  In written English, affect is the verb (think Affect = Action), while effect is the noun.
  5. now / know: Now refers to the present time, while know is the verb.
  6. to / too / two: Too is a synonym for also, two is the number, and to is…for everything else.

There are other words that could be added to this list (in fact, the list is limitless), but these are among the most typical.  A slight slip of the finger could change the whole meaning of what you’re trying to say, so always go back and line-edit your own work for spelling errors.