We all need to do this.

[953 nut 57,134]

National Proofreading Day, celebrated each year on March 8, is a day to promote error-free writing. We all make typos, grammar mistakes, and spelling errors when we write, especially if we are moving too fast! National Proofreading Day is an opportunity to slow down, proofread our work, and then proof it again. And if you’re lucky enough to work with an editor who proofs your work for you, National Proofreading Day is a great opportunity to thank them for always ensuring that your writing is free of mistakes.

If proofreading isn’t your thing then consider how your brain so quickly makes sense of jumbled words that at first glance look like nonsense? Researchers aren’t entirely sure, but they have some suspicions.

Yuo cna porbalby raed tihs esaliy desptie teh msispeillgns.

They think part of the reason the sentence above is readable is because our brains can use context to make predictions about what's to come.

For example, research has revealed that when we hear a sound that leads us to expect another sound, the brain reacts as if we're already hearing that second sound.

This is similar to how the brain responds to an arrangement of letters or words. As your brain deciphered each word in the example above, it predicted which words would logically come next to form a coherent sentence.

"We are continuously anticipating what we will see, hear or feel next," Dr. Lars Muckli, a researcher at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology told Phys.org.

However, even if you read that garbled example with ease, you probably didn't read every word correctly. You thought you did because you understood the sentence, but in addition to predicting what came next, your brain filled in any gaps based on the subsequent words.

Just How Good Is Your Brain at Reading Garbled Words?

Making sense of words with jumbled letters isn't easy. But what if the first and last letters of the word are in place? Could you understand it better?

If you're familiar with the text below and can read it, you may think you'd be able to read any word scrambled in such a fashion.

"It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

But, according to Cambridge University research, we're able to read the meme above because our brains process all of the letters in a word at once. However, according to Matt Davis, a senior researcher at Cambridge's Cognition and Brain Science Unit, that's not entirely true.

"There are elements of truth in this, but also some things which scientists studying the psychology of language (psycholinguists) know to be incorrect," he writes.

Davis uses the following three sentences to illustrate how simply leaving the first and last letters of a word in place doesn't necessarily mean a sentence will be easily readable.

    1. A vheclie epxledod at a plocie cehckipont near the UN haduqertares in Bagahdd on Mnoday kilinlg the bmober and an Irqai polcie offceir

     2. Big ccunoil tax ineesacrs tihs yaer hvae seezueqd the inmcoes of mnay pneosenirs

     3. A dootcr has aimttded the magltheuansr of a tageene ceacnr pintaet who deid aetfr a hatospil durg blendur

Having a little trouble with those last two? Each of these sentences becomes progressively more challenging to read because, even though Davis followed the rule dictated in the meme noted above, he jumbled the letters more.

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 26,909]

[WHX?? 50,195]

59 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

We all make typos, have fat fingers 

There fixed that

We all need spell checker anin't that right Sylvia? 

Edited March 8 by WHX??
speeling

[SylvanLakeWH 26,909]

7 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Fat fingers...

We all need spell checker anin't that right Sylvia? 

 

So, ur syin mi fingrs luk fat on ths kybord?

 

Butt, what abowt my but? 

[oliver2-44 10,171]

The new AI spell corrector fixes my misspelling and just turn it into complete garbage inserting the wrong correctly spelled word!

[rmaynard 15,867]

 

I am a believer in proof-reading and proper punctuation.

[stevasaurus 23,010]

Me two, to, too,  It makes cents, since, sence.  

[adsm08 2,485]

I agree. A comma should not be inserted after every third word with no other punctuation or capitalization. Makes posts impossible to understand.

[EB-80/8inPA 1,776]

9 hours ago, 953 nut said:

For example, research has revealed that when we hear a sound that leads us to expect another sound, the brain reacts as if we're already hearing that second sound.

This is really true!  Whenever I hear the words “Honeeeey!” or “Deeeeaaaar,” I know the next words to follow will be “Would you <insert thing to be done> for me?”

Pro tip:  Don’t say “Not now, dear, I’m busy.”  That leads to other expectable sounds.

[ebinmaine 70,090]

I once heard a very amusing discussion on the radio about a

 

Large white woman's sweater. 

 

Insert comma as desired.  

 

 

[MainelyWheelhorse 856]

I found this online.