Grammar checker prompts
A grammar checker is far more use when you tell it what to look for. Pick the job, see on a real sentence which mistake it catches, then send the prompt to the tool with your own text right after it and edit as you like.
Plain proofreading
The ordinary pass before you hit send. Check spelling and grammar in one go, run a punctuation and comma check on its own, fix subject-verb agreement and tense, and sort out the word pairs everyone confuses.
Full proofread
The ordinary check before you send: everything at once, nothing skipped.
Check the whole text: spelling, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, tenses and articles. Fix every mistake and change nothing else — keep the wording, the tone and the rhythm exactly as the author wrote them.
Their going to announce the winners on friday, and the team are still waiting on it's final scores.
They're going to announce the winners on Friday, and the team is still waiting on its final scores.
Punctuation only
The words are fine; the commas are the usual problem.
Check the punctuation only: comma splices, commas around non-restrictive clauses and introductory phrases, serial commas, apostrophes and hyphenation. Leave the spelling and the wording untouched.
The report is finished we can send it tomorrow, unless the client who signed it off last week wants changes.
The report is finished, so we can send it tomorrow, unless the client, who signed it off last week, wants changes.
Agreement and tense
The sentence was rewritten twice and half of it still points at the old subject.
Check the grammar only: subject-verb agreement, singular and plural forms, verb tenses and pronoun reference. Fix the mismatches and leave every other word as it is.
Each of the managers have their own dashboard, and the list of open tickets were updated this morning.
Each of the managers has their own dashboard, and the list of open tickets was updated this morning.
Spelling and confused pairs
Its and it's, then and than, affect and effect — spell-check misses all of them.
Check the spelling only: typos and commonly confused pairs such as its and it's, their and there, then and than, affect and effect, plus words that should be one word, two words or hyphenated. Leave punctuation and sentence structure alone.
The new proccess had a bigger affect on response times then we expected, and its working every day now.
The new process had a bigger effect on response times than we expected, and it's working every day now.
Documents where a mistake costs you
Read closely and usually only once: proofread a CV and the cover letter going with it, tidy an official letter before it leaves the building, and check a contract for errors without touching the terms.
CV and cover letter
One typo here and the interview never happens.
Proofread a CV: check spelling, punctuation and tense consistency in every bullet, and keep the bullets grammatically parallel. Leave company names, job titles and tool names exactly as written.
Managed a team of 12, launching two products, and was responsible for the quarterly reporting to the board.
Managed a team of 12, launched two products and was responsible for the quarterly reporting to the board.
Official letter
A complaint, a claim, a letter to the bank — read literally, word by word.
Proofread a formal letter: check spelling, punctuation, the salutation and the sign-off, and the way dates, amounts and reference numbers are written. Keep the formal register — this is a document, not an article.
Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing in regards to invoice no. 2481 dated 3rd of Febuary, which remain unpaid.
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing with regard to invoice no. 2481, dated 3 February, which remains unpaid.
Contract
A clause with a broken reference is the one that gets read out in court.
Proofread a contract: check spelling, punctuation and agreement in every clause, plus clause numbering, cross-references, dates and amounts. Do not rewrite the wording, the defined terms or the names of the parties.
The Supplier shall deliver the goods within 10 buisness days, and the client shall pay each invoice within 30 days of it's receipt.
The Supplier shall deliver the goods within 10 business days, and the Client shall pay each invoice within 30 days of its receipt.
Text that goes public
Everyone spots the typo and the fix always lands late. Catch it in a social post before it publishes, run a check over website copy before the site goes live, and proofread a long article end to end.
Social post
The first person to spot the typo is a commenter, not an editor.
Proofread a social post: fix spelling, punctuation and agreement, but keep the casual voice, the emoji, the contractions and the short line breaks. Leave hashtags and handles untouched.
we're live tomorrow at 6 🙌 bring you're questions, their will be time for all of them.
We're live tomorrow at 6 🙌 Bring your questions — there will be time for all of them.
Website copy
A product page or a pricing table that every visitor reads.
Proofread website copy: check headings, subheadings, button labels and product descriptions for spelling, punctuation and agreement. Keep product, plan and feature names as written, and do not make the headings longer.
Free shipping on order's over $50 — see our FAQ's for the full list of exeptions.
Free shipping on orders over $50 — see our FAQs for the full list of exceptions.
Long-form article
Long sentences, stacked clauses — the mistake hides in the middle.
Proofread an article: check spelling and punctuation in long sentences, watch for dangling modifiers and comma splices, and keep the tense consistent throughout. Leave the structure, the subheadings and the author's phrasing in place.
After reviewing the first reports, it became clear that most signups came from search, not from the newsletter we had bet on.
After we reviewed the first reports, it became clear that most sign-ups came from search, not from the newsletter we had bet on.
Coursework
Work that somebody else marks: an essay grammar check before the deadline, a thesis chapter read for the mistakes a supervisor circles, and homework written in a language you are still learning.
Essay
Marked by a teacher, and every mistake takes a point off.
Proofread a student essay: check spelling, punctuation, agreement and repeated words, keeping the length, the paragraphs and the argument exactly as they are. Do not add or remove evidence.
The author argues, that the narrator is unreliable, and this idea is develop through out the second chapter.
The author argues that the narrator is unreliable, and this idea is developed throughout the second chapter.
Thesis chapter
Academic prose: defined terms, citations and sentences five lines long.
Proofread a chapter of academic work: check spelling, punctuation and agreement, the consistency of terms and the formatting of citations. Leave terminology, figures, formulas and author names untouched.
The data collected in 2024 was analysed using a mixed-methods approach, which have been described in Chapter 2 (Miller, 2019).
The data collected in 2024 were analysed using a mixed-methods approach, which has been described in Chapter 2 (Miller, 2019).
Homework in a language you are learning
You need the correction and the reason, so the same mistake does not come back.
Check a text written by someone who is still learning the language it is written in: fix grammar, gender and agreement, prepositions, tenses and word order, but keep the simple constructions the author chose. Explain every correction in one short line.
Je suis allé à la bibliothèque hier, et j'ai lu deux livres que j'ai beaucoup aimé.
Je suis allé à la bibliothèque hier et j'ai lu deux livres que j'ai beaucoup aimés.
Check it, change nothing else
When leaving the wording alone matters more than improving it. Correct the errors only, fix the grammar without rewriting your sentences, get every change listed back, and keep names and terms untouched.
Errors only, keep my wording
The text is already signed off: the mistakes have to go, the phrasing cannot.
Fix only the mistakes: spelling, punctuation, agreement and tense. Do not replace any word with a synonym, do not reorder clauses, do not shorten or expand anything — every phrase the author chose must survive word for word.
Please be advised that the aforementioned documents has been forwarded to the relevant department for there review.
Please be advised that the aforementioned documents have been forwarded to the relevant department for their review.
Show me every change
You want the list of edits and the rule behind each one, not just a clean text.
Fix the mistakes and list every change you made: what it was, what it became and which rule applies. If a passage is arguable, say so and keep the author's version.
The results was surprising, we ran the test again the next day.
The results were surprising. We ran the test again the next day. Changes: 'was' to 'were' — plural subject; comma splice replaced with a full stop.
Do not touch names or terms
Product names, surnames and shop-floor jargon are not typos to be corrected.
Fix the mistakes but leave names, company and product names, technical terms, abbreviations and brand spelling exactly as they are, even when they look wrong. If a word looks like a typo but could be a name, keep it and say so.
The iBro team have shipped webhook retries last sprint, and there already seeing less failed callbacks.
The iBro team shipped webhook retries last sprint, and they are already seeing fewer failed callbacks.