Whether a verb ends in a ‘d’, a ‘t’ or a ‘dt’ can be a complicated matter when you are compiling a text. Even experienced writers slip up every now and then. In Dutch this is called ‘writing on autopilot’, meaning that you focus on content and style and thus, ignoring the rules for conjugation, pay little attention to the ending of the verb. Proofreading, however, is not only about ‘ds’ and ‘dts’. It is about making sure your written work does not contain any incorrect punctuation, clunky sentences or stilted phrases.
I started my linguistics career as a copywriter and have over twenty years of professional experience proofreading. Nothing can be taken for granted when proofreading because unconscious mistakes are easily made. These mistakes are harder to detect in your own work. And that’s where I come in. I have a keen eye for detail and will actually look at a word, rather than skim over it. In my quest for perfection I will notice the extra space after a period or in between words, I will spot ‘ik lijd’ when it should be ‘ik leid’ and will delete the unnecessary hyphen in a compound word. After I have reviewed and marked up your text it will be free of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, the syntax and diction will flow and your written work will show consistency all over. Whether it is a novel, a newsletter, an academic essay, a website, or business report, I will analyse it on a visual level for typos, easily confused words, doubled words, sentence fragments, punctuation, spelling mistakes, numbers and formatting.