How-To Guides: Using Spell Check and Grammar Check

Sometimes you’re just not sure how to spell a word or if the grammar is correct. Don’t worry! Microsoft Word has an automatic spelling and grammar check to help you with this!

 

1. Try the mini-tutorial below to use the spelling and grammar check:

• Type the following sentence exactly as it appears: The dog and the cat runs to the food dishs.

2. Your screen should look like this:

The word “runs” should have a green wavy line under it, and the word “dishs” should have a red wavy line under it. When you type a word that the computer does not recognize, it marks it (green for grammar and red for spelling). These lines only show on the screen and will not be printed.

Method I:  To check spelling automatically as you type:

Right-click on the word “dishs”. A menu will appear.

• Select the correct choice. If none of the choices are correct, you will need to type in your own response. For this example, select ‘dishes.’
• Repeat for any additional mistakes. If the computer marks a word that is spelled correctly (for example, someone’s name), right-click on the word and choose ‘Ignore All.’

Method II: To check spelling and grammar all at once when you are finished typing your document:

• Highlight the word “dishs”.
• Go to the Tools Menu and click on Spelling and Grammar.
• A screen will appear with “dishs” in the top box and a list of suggestions to correct the error in the bottom box.
• Select the correct spelling (often the first choice) and click on Change. Dishs will be changed to dishes.

Tips:

• If a word is mistyped but isn’t misspelled, the spell check will not catch this misspelling. An example would be that you want to type “from” and you type “form”. Try using the grammar check to catch this.
• Even when using the checks, you should still review your documents
  

 

 

[Posted on July 27, 2006]