I am putting in time at the keyboard on a short story, and I realize how grateful I am to have word processing. Usually, the first key to go out on my is the backspace. I know I would not be productive with a typewriter, without a computer, I would be back to the pencil and erasers. If it were not for Microsoft Word telling me how to spell things correctly, I would be lost. As my caffeine boosted fingers fly across the keyboard, it is normal for me to see a word or two underlined in red, Here are a few examples:
aslo (also), wieght, adn (and), beginninng, vaccuum, adranaline, Febuary, Wendsday,
and my archnemisis; teh which is supposed to be “The”, the most common word.
The more difficult errors to spot are my comma usage errors. I should go on the record here and now, I love a run-on sentence. There, I said it. I should also admit that I do not know all the rules, because the word processor does.
As grateful as I am to the word processing capabilities, I still find myself arguing with it. I try to reason with it and tell it that I end my sentences with a preposition all the time. I tell it that in this day and age, since there is no flying cars, can we perhaps change the spelling of Wednesday?
If we can put it to a vote, I vote yes, and also, do we really need the word “Whom” anymore?
-R.L. King