Microsoft Word Problems
WWW #85 Microsoft Word Problems
A couple of years ago, a client asked me if I had made some mistakes in their story. I apologized and asked for which mistakes they had noticed so I could fix them right away. While I was worrying if I had accidentally sent them an old draft and was crazily-rereading the story, the client let me know they were talking about Microsoft Word’s notorious blue suggestion lines.
Luckily, no mistakes had slipped through, and I explained how those marks were only suggestions (all of which I had checked). These lines can appear as a suggestion to change strong language, make a sentence more concise, or completely switch out a word.
This is a very useful tool but over this past year, MS word has been making some crazy mistakes in their suggestions so let’s talk about what word processors do, how to use them as tools, and some of their common mistakes.
What are Word Processors?
Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Grammarly are all examples of word processors. They are used to write and edit your work, but it is important to remember: These are tools! They are not an all-knowing guide you must follow.
A word processor is helpful for flagging any spelling or punctuation errors you may have. But it can get a little hairy when the word-choice suggestions pop up. Sometimes they are helpful (like the grammar one I have right now telling me to remove the hyphen in “word-choice! Correct, but I’m leaving it in). But at the end of the day, it is a computer. These suggestions are based off system patterns, rules, and do not consider metaphors or more complex themes and structures in writing.
With all this considered, check every blue line that pops up and ask yourself, “Does this help me?” and “Is it correct or not?” Then make your change or ignore as needed!
MS Word Mistakes
Over the past year, MS Word’s mistakes have become egregious. I want to talk about this topic because I’ve had clients tell me in the past how they automatically accept any change MS Word or their processor suggests. Don’t do this! Always take them into consideration and then make the decision yourself.
Now, let’s look at some errors that have popped up within this last week for fun!
Telling VS Told: While writing this article, I received this pop-up error to change the ongoing action of “telling,” to the past action, “told.” “Telling” is an action that is currently ongoing in the present, but the computer thinks I am talking about one singular moment in the past. That is fine, but it would not be correct in my statement. This is a quick example of where you would need to stop and question this advice.
Correct: “… like the grammar one I have right now telling me to remove…”
Incorrect Suggestion: “…like the grammar one I have right now told me to remove…”
The computer thinks I am talking about something that had happened in the past, so it is suggesting based off that logic. But I as the writer can choose to keep “telling” because I know I am talking about something ongoing in the present. I guess you can go either way the more I look at it but it’s important to stop and think about! Ask yourself, “What am I trying to say?”
Speak VS Say: A common one I have been seeing all week is the random suggestion to change the dialogue tag, “say,” to “speak.” MS Word only suggests this every few times I used the word, “I say,” so it is a little mind boggling!
Correct: “I missed my old pals; do I need an excuse?” I say.
Incorrect Suggestion: “I missed my old pals; do I need an excuse?” I speak.
I will get suggestions for changing “I said,” to “I spoke,” as well.
Fell VS Feel: Sometimes the suggestions can work but they are not the word you are looking for nor are they in the right tense. You can have your characters fall in love or in this section’s case, “everyone fell enamored” but the computer picked it up and suggested I wrote, “feel” instead. The statement, “feel enamored,” is correct on its own, but if I plug it into my sentence, we get the awkward, “everyone feel enamored,” which is not correct and would need to be, “everyone felt enamored.” Not to mention that “feels,” even though in the wrong tense, would be better than “feel” here but these are all just bad suggestions.
I was just like, “Word, what??”
Heart Beat VS Heartbeat: This was a fun one! Here is another example of how these processors are following a formula. Word sees me write, “heart beats” and wants to correct me to “heartbeat.” That is totally fine but if you zoom out and look at my sentence and intent, I am talking about not the heartbeat itself but the heart and the action of beating. The heart itself is beating and “erratically” is modifying that action. I am splitting hairs here, but they create two very different meanings and visuals. If I wanted to say “heartbeat,” I would have written, “My heartbeat was erratic,” instead but then that is a less active and telling description when compared to, “my heart beat erratically.”
Angels VS Angels’: In this sentence, I was talking about “angels” as a thing that religious men speak of in a dramatic moment. This suggestion is choosing to interpret angels as the subject and wants them to be possessive of the religious men instead. That would shift the sentence’s focus to the religious men, rather than “religious men” being a supporting detail about the angels. I was a little confused by this one because it was quite out there in comparison to what I was intending. I could add a comma after “angels” to get the suggestion to go away but I didn’t want to. It disrupted the flow of this sentence.
Speed Run of MS Word’s Bad Corrections
Auto-correct changes the shape of quotation marks from curly to straight.
Auto-correct changes contractions to… word jumbles? “Hadn’t” becomes “ha’nt” or something weird. It happens occasionally!
“Must” vs “have to” debacle. Sometimes you really need to do something so you “must” do it but sometimes—MS Word—it is not that serious, and I will continue to write, “I have to do something.”
Incorrect suggestions to flip-flop “startled” with “started” and vice-versa as if I don’t understand what those two words mean.
Conclusion
In short, technology, advice, writing rules, and any feedback you may ever receive can be very helpful! Just make sure you never blindly follow any of it. Writing is a collective experience that pulls from your many different experiences, pool of knowledge, and a wealth of tips and tricks. Always stop and evaluate and see if what advice is being given to you is helpful or not.