About Spell Checkers

Spell checkers are useful programs that help spare a writer of the embarrassment of misspelling a word. These programs have become helpful tools for anyone who creates a document using a word processing tool. But these programs have been criticized as not being 100 percent reliable.

History

Spellcheckers are as old as the 1970s. Original spell checkers were stand-alone programs, though many were designed to run with word processing programs. Later word processors came with spell checkers built in, and these spell checkers have become the norm for word processors. Today, many other types of programs, such as Internet browsers, come with spell checkers .

Benefits

Spell checkers allow users to avoid making many of the common spelling mistakes. When used properly, spell checkers can somewhat improve the correct spelling of a document. Spell checkers are also useful when a user remembers a particular word, but cannot remember exactly how to spell the word. In addition to checking for spelling, many word processors also come with a grammar checker. These programs use an algorithm of grammar conventions to analyze text and determine if the text is grammatically correct.

Function

Spell checkers operate by comparing each word to a word in an electronic dictionary. If the particular word is not found in this dictionary, the word is often marked with a red underline. The user then has the option to change the word to a number of related words or keep the word as it is. Though the red line appears on the screen, if the user prints the document, the printer will not print the red lines.

Warning

Spell checkers are not flawless and are no substitute for close proofreading. Spell checkers will not find correctly spelled words that are incorrectly used in a sentence. Also, spell checkers don't have every word in existence located on the electronic dictionary. Many words might be marked as misspelled that are actually correctly spelled. There is also an auto-correct feature on many word processors that automatically changes a misspelled word to a word that the spell checker considers correct. But these auto-correct features make mistakes and correct words that do not need to be corrected.

Potential

Newer spell checkers have the ability to analyze the context of a particular sentence. These spell checkers are able to determine if some words are incorrectly used within a particular context. Whether or not these spell checkers will ever by perfected is uncertain, since language is dynamic. With advancements in artificial intelligence, programs might be created that can replace proofreaders.