Spelling & grammar check; synonyms and thesaurus; non-printing characters

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. You wrote a leave letter, and your teacher found three spelling mistakes. Could the computer have caught them first? Yes, it could. Today we will learn spelling and grammar check, synonyms and the thesaurus. We will also learn about hidden marks called non-printing characters.

First, a new term. Proofreading means reading your text carefully to find and fix mistakes. A spelling mistake is a word spelt wrongly, like recieve instead of receive. A grammar mistake breaks a rule of sentences, like he go to school. Word choice means picking a better word, so the same word is not repeated again and again. Word processors have tools for all three.

The first tool works while you type, and it is called automatic spell checking. A red wavy line under a word means the software thinks the spelling is wrong. A blue wavy line means it doubts the grammar. No line means it found no problem, but it can still miss mistakes. Right click an underlined word to see suggestions, and click the correct one.

The second way checks the whole document at once. Press the F7 key, or open the Tools menu in Writer, or the Review tab in Word. A dialog box stops at each doubtful word. Click Correct, or Change, to use the suggestion. Click Ignore Once or Ignore All when the word is right, like a name. Add to Dictionary teaches the software a word such as Kwickprep, so it is never marked again.

Remember, the checker is a helper, not a teacher. It cannot catch a correct spelling used in the wrong place. For example, I am from Pune and I am form Pune both have correctly spelt words. Indian names and Hindi words may be marked wrong, even when they are right. So always read your work once yourself before you submit it.

Now, synonyms. A synonym is a word with the same or a similar meaning. Happy has synonyms like glad, cheerful and joyful. In Writer and in Word, right click a word, then point to Synonyms. Click any synonym, and it replaces your word at once.

A thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms. It shows many meanings and many words, so it gives more choice than the right click list. In Writer, open Tools, then Thesaurus, or press Ctrl and F7. In Word, open the Review tab and click Thesaurus, or press Shift and F7. Select the word you like and click Replace or Insert.

A word can have more than one meaning, so choose carefully. Pick the meaning that fits your sentence. A bright student is clever, not shiny, even though shiny is a synonym of bright. After you replace a word, read the sentence again. Use the thesaurus mainly to avoid repeating the same word in a paragraph.

Non-printing characters are hidden marks for keys like Enter, Space and Tab. They show on screen only when you ask, and they never print on paper. The pilcrow mark shows the end of a paragraph, where you pressed Enter. A small raised dot shows a space. An arrow shows a tab. A bent arrow shows a line break, made with Shift and Enter.

You can switch these marks on and off. In Writer, open the View menu and click Formatting Marks, or press Ctrl and F10. In Word, click the Show or Hide paragraph button on the Home tab, or press Ctrl, Shift and 8. Press the same keys again to hide them.

Why would anyone want to see hidden marks? They help you find two spaces where there should be one. They show extra Enters that push text to a new, almost blank page. They show whether a column was lined up with tabs or with many spaces. Pause and predict: you print with the marks switched on. Do the dots and pilcrows print? No, they never print.

Let us revise what we learned today. A red wavy line marks a spelling doubt, and a blue one marks a grammar doubt. The F7 key checks the whole document. A synonym is a word with a similar meaning. The thesaurus is Ctrl and F7 in Writer, and Shift and F7 in Word. Non-printing characters show hidden keys like Enter and Space, but they never print. Try these tools on your next assignment.