The short answer is yes. The reason is that no one is perfect. There is no contract, no article, no information that you can’t find a mistake in if you look hard enough. Plus, some “mistakes” are in the eye of the beholder. Grammar Police be damned; mistakes happen, and sometimes they’re on purpose to make a point.
However, the fact that it’s okay to make mistakes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work hard to avoid them. There are things that you can do to edit your content to avoid the most commonly made errors.
* Read Out Loud – When you finish a piece, try reading it out loud. If you trip on words, or you can’t get through a sentence easily, work on them to perfect them. If you change anything, read the entire thing again.
* Check for Your Most Commonly Made Error – You know yourself. Maybe you use a particular word too often. Do a find for that word so that you can make the changes. If you know that sometimes you mix up the meaning for words like “except” and “accept”, do a find on them and double check.
* Check Your Bullet Points – You need to ensure that each bullet matches up with what you stated. Also, make sure that the bullets make sense in the order they’re in. Sometimes people have a tendency to mix up points.
* Use Contractions – Many people try to write in a formal way even if most people don’t talk that way. This is a mistake because people use contractions in normal everyday language and you won’t sound natural if you stop using them in your writing.
* Check for Common Errors – You know that some of the common errors are using “to”, “too”, and “two” wrong, or “it’s” and “its”, and so forth. Check all of these types of words to ensure that they’re being used correctly.
* Prune for Excessive “-ing” Words – It’s easy to do; you will write along normally then all the sudden the “ing” words sneak in. The fact is, most of the time you really do not need the “-ing” words and they don’t really work that well anyway. Check for them, and then try to eliminate them.
* Read It Backwards – When you read the work backwards, one word at a time, you can check the spelling more easily. Also, start at the bottom and read each sentence alone without what comes before or after it. This will help you ensure that each word is understandable.
* Let Someone Else Read It – It really is a good idea to find someone you can count on to go over any business content before you publish it. Another eye will help you avoid serious problems such as misusing the words “pubic” and “public”. Yes, read that again.
You can also use software to help you like Grammarly.com. This software works great to help you notice how you’re using words. However, don’t automatically make the changes suggested because they’re not always correct. They are only suggestions. Most of all, be yourself, write how you talk and you’ll be fine.