Okay, springboarding off a Julie Andrews musical, here's a few things that really irk me.
TO/TOO/TWO
We're all familiar with the concept of synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. In actual practice, however, I see a lot of egregious usages.
Here's an examples:
Rein, rain, reign. Sounds alike, but different meanings. And I've seen many abuses of these words.
Rein is a line used on a halter to control a horse or other mount. Rain is water dripping frim the sky. And reign? You rule!
I've read westerns where a cowboy reigns his horse.
These are errors anyone is capable of making. And it requires careful editing to correct the usage.
When I see these as I'm reading, my first thought isn't that the author should know better. It's that their editor let them down. And that's a shame.
A few years ago I edited an anthology dealing with the newly instituted Space Force. https://www.amazon.com/Space-Force-Doug-Irvin-Editor
I did intensive edits (proofing and copy/content editing) on the stories before I passed the mss on to the publisher. And still a few slipped by! But far fewer than might have otherwise.
It wasn't carelessness. It wasn't a lackadaisical approach (Oh, I know how to spell that! I don't need to check it!)
I just double checked my spelling of lackadaisical. And I usually forgo spell checkers except to catch typos.
But spell check programs do not look at grammar (2 a's, no e's) They don't look at word usage in a context (okay, Grammarly claims to, but it is clumsy to use). And spell or grammar checkers cannot check content.
Having beta readers helps. Hey, any self-check effort is worthwhile. Make sure you do the corrections.
Ultimately, it is your reputation on the line. Writers and Editors -- Words are your business. Don't market a shoddy product.
I know several writers who tell dynamic stories, but have lousy grammatical skills They aren't proud of their lack. But they spend lots of money getting exhaustive editing done.
Do a workman-like production. You owe it to yourself.
