Proofreading=The Job I Love the Most

Ever since I learned how a sentence should be properly constructed, I have loved grammar and proofing.  I think that I am a constructive proofreader because I provide examples and explanations for how an article or pamphlet can be improved.  After I finished the article for "Romeo & Juliet", I proofed the program for the play.

This program was different from many that I have proofed in the past because it included more than just a cast list.  Because the M.T. Pockets Theatre is a community theatre for the Morgantown area, businesses here contribute and market themselves through the programs for each production.  I have not asked yet, but I believe that if I were to find an error in one of the advertisements that it would have to be corrected on their end and resubmitted to our program.  Thankfully, though, I did not find any errors in the ads.

One area of writing that I find poses a problem for me is that of continuity.  When working with groups of people, I tend to call each person a different name instead of keeping their name the same.  Since I have to carefully pick up on each instance where I do this, I notice it quickly in another's work.  The director for the play is named Ariel Elizabeth Barnhart.  In the program, she was listed twice as her full name, once as Ariel E. Barnhart, and once as Ariel Barnhart.  I suggested that she be referred to as Ariel Elizabeth Barnhart because that is was appears on the website, and her previous press releases.

I did have to look up the correct form of a word used in the program because I was unsure if it could be used in the particular form and mean the same thing.  The word was "Shakespearean" as opposed to "Shakespeare" when both are used to explain the type of performance this specific actor was portraying. The exact quote was, "this is her first Shakespeare portrayal".  Once I had concluded my research on the differences in the words, I marked it with a note stating that they could be used interchangeably for this specific instance.  "Shakespearean" is the preferred form of the word, but both are correct in this instance.  In order to check the grammaticality of the words, I used Google searches and the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) online.  I found both immensely helpful.

I have not as of yet been able to proofread another program.  But there is a show being performed this next weekend, and I should be getting the program for that at the beginning of the week.

I find proofreading one of the most important parts of the writing process because it allows someone else to read your work without knowing what you went through to write it.  The longer one looks at a text, the more caution slips--errors begin to creep up, and a good way to guard against that is for a proofer to catch them and help them be corrected.