Proofreading and copy editing can catch problems that AI and spellcheck tools still miss, from the wrong date on an event poster to a tiny punctuation error that completely changes the meaning of a sentence.
For businesses producing restaurant menus, websites, brochures, event posters and social media content, those details matter.
Drogheda based Alphadico provides professional proofreading and copy editing services and says technology can be useful during the editing process, but it does not always understand what a writer is actually trying to communicate.
A piece of writing can be grammatically correct and still be wrong. And sometimes something as small as a missing comma can completely alter a sentence.
Take a simple example:
Let’s eat, Grandma!
Remove the comma and you get:
Let’s eat Grandma!
One means you are having dinner with your grandmother. The other suggests you are having your grandmother for dinner.
What AI and spellcheck can still miss
AI and spellcheck have their place.
Alphadico itself uses professional spellcheck tools as part of its editing process, but says those tools can still miss typos or make incorrect recommendations because they do not always understand the meaning behind the words.
Jokes and irony can create difficulties, as can terminology used in particular industries such as hospitality and marketing.
Sometimes a tool can even recommend replacing a word or phrase that was already correct.
That is why proofreading and copy editing involve more than simply putting a document through software.
A human editor is considering what the writer is actually trying to communicate as well as checking spelling, grammar, punctuation, consistency and context.
Alphadico’s own proofreading and editing service includes checks for punctuation, spelling, grammar, repetition and consistency, while its copy editing service also covers areas such as dates, names, quotations and factual references.
Editing isn’t just about spelling and grammar
Alphadico says one of the biggest misconceptions about proofreading is that being good at spelling and grammar is enough to make someone a professional proofreader or copy editor.
In reality, both require specific training and involve much more than spotting typos.
A simple date provides a good example.
Imagine a business publishes details for an event taking place on Thursday, 28th August 2026.
The sentence is grammatically correct and every word is spelled properly.
The problem is that 28th August 2026 is a Friday.
A spelling or grammar checker may not flag anything, but for the people planning to attend the event, it is a fairly important mistake.
The mistakes customers notice
For businesses, the content most worth checking carefully is often the material customers are most likely to see.
Alphadico recommends carefully checking menus, brochures, invitations, event information, billboards, advertising and instructions, particularly when something is going to print and cannot easily be changed afterwards.
Duplicated words and typos are among the common mistakes the company encounters in business communications.
They can stand out particularly strongly in short pieces of content such as menus, social posts or advertisements, where there are fewer words to distract from the error.
Mistakes can also affect how customers perceive a business.
As Alphadico puts it: “If the business did not take the time to check its ad, will it do the job properly?”
One simple proofreading trick
There is also a simple proofreading technique anyone can try before publishing something they have written themselves.
Where time allows, Alphadico recommends leaving the text alone for two or three days before checking it again.
When we write our own content, we become so familiar with what we intended to say that it can be surprisingly easy to read straight past a missing word, duplicated phrase or typo.
Even professional proofreaders can have the same problem.
Alphadico’s certified French copy editor and proofreader is currently preparing a brochure with tips for new and future business owners and plans to have another professional check it before publication.
Despite reading the material several times and using professional spellcheck software, familiarity with the content means there is still a chance of overlooking something.
Even proofreaders hire proofreaders.
This article was produced as part of a paid partnership with Alphadico.
