Imagine this:
You're reading a novel. You've gotten into the swing of the plot, you're feeling invested in the main characters. And then the author mentions the name of the city the action is in again.
And that name is spelled entirely differently than it was the first time you saw it.
Suddenly, you're taken out of the story. Did you make a mistake the first time? No, it seems you didn't. The author made the mistake – and keeps making it throughout the story.
Consistency errors like that one will make your writing look unprofessional and seem confusing. Checking your writing for consistency is an important part of the editing process. And while that may seem obvious, creating consistency is more difficult than it seems.
Our editing software, ProWritingAid, will check your writing for consistency of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, and more.
ProWritingAid Helps Find Spelling Inconsistencies
There are over 1,700 spelling differences between UK English and US English, with Canadian English and Australian English sitting somewhere precariously between the two.
It is easy to mix spelling from the UK and the US. Our spelling consistency software automatically finds and highlights where you have used inconsistent spelling. That way, you won't be saying "capitalization" in one place and "capitalisation" in another.
When you run the consistency report, the first item in the list is spelling. This will pick up on how many words use the UK and US English spelling. Do you spell "grey" and "gray" differently throughout your writing? Are you adding the letter U to words like "neighbor" when you're supposed to be using American English? This report is crucial to catching those errors.
ProWritingAid Helps Find Hyphenation Inconsistencies
Inconsistent use of hyphenation can make a document appear less professional. If you use "long-term" in one place, then later use "long term", your writing will look unprofessional.
Of course, it is not always a mistake to use a hyphen in one place but not in another. For instance, "long-term plan" and "in the long term" would be correct. However, it can be hard to tell when and where to use the proper terminology.
Our free hyphenation consistency checking software will highlight possible consistencies in your writing so that you can easily check for errors. Inconsistent use of hyphens is a very frequent error, over 60% of randomly sampled documents have some form of hyphenation inconsistency.
The report will show you all the instances where words appear both hyphenated and unhyphenated. Sometimes these aren't grammar mistakes but are a personal choice. You can go through each occurrence and decide which form to use while making sure your writing stays consistent. The consistency report also checks for appearances of the en dash and em dash, which are often confused with hyphens.
ProWritingAid Helps Find Capitalization Inconsistencies
Some people like to argue about whether words like "Yoga" or "Viking" should be capitalized or not, but what's sure is that capitalization inconsistency reflects badly on your professionalism as a writer.
Like with hyphens, capitalization is often a personal choice. Fiction writers especially may choose to capitalize words that are normally lowercase. By running a consistency report, you can make sure that everything that needs to be capitalized is throughout your writing.
Our capitalization consistency software helps you to find and eliminate those annoying inconsistencies, which will polish your work and make it read more professionally.
ProWritingAid Helps Find Other Inconsistencies
It's not just spelling, hyphens, and capitalization! The consistency report checks a few other features, as well. The consistency report will check your quotation mark usage. Sometimes, our writing accidentally mixes straight quotation marks with curly quotation marks. When you run the consistency report, you can see exactly how many times you use each type. It even checks single and double quotes separately.
The consistency report checks ellipses, too. An ellipsis should only contain three dots. If you accidentally use more or less than that, the report will point it out.
Finally, the consistency report checks the use of serial commas. When you are listing things, they are separated by a comma. Some people use the Oxford comma, which puts a comma before "and" (i.e. bacon, egg, and cheese.) Other people prefer to write without that last comma (i.e. bacon, egg and cheese.) Both are technically correct, but you should be consistent through your writing. Avoid switching back and forth with the consistency report.
Running The Consistency Report
Where can you find the consistency report? When you open the editing tool, there are several reports along the top toolbar. On the far right are three dots with more reports. There you can find twelve additional reports. That's where the consistency report is located. Simply click the report, and it will automatically run. When it's finished, a sidebar will pop up on the left with the results.
Improve Your Writing with ProWritingAid
Inconsistencies can plague your writing but are often difficult to locate. Using an editing software like ProWritingAid will automatically catch these simple errors and correct them so that you don't have to waste time or energy remembering if you wrote "licence" or "license" throughout your piece.
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