Why hire a proofreader or editor?
I speak only from personal experience; but, considering how much writing I have done, I think that my words should carry some weight with them. My answer to why is simple. It is very unusual for you to catch all of your own mistakes yourself. You may get some, you might even get most of them, but unless you are really gifted, you will miss something. It is much easier for one who is divorced from the work to catch mistakes.
Also, since we have become more dependent on computers and word-processors, we have become less proficient at catching grammar and spelling errors ourselves. The problem with this is that the word processor can’t do it well either. If you don’t believe me, put the following sentence into your word-processing program and see what happens (hint: in the correct version, there are no fewer words and the word order is the same):
Walter and Susan want there lawyer to plan there estate in such a way that he will will cover every possibly contingency; including but no limited to early death.
Notice that the only ‘mistake’ the processor catches is actually not a mistake at all. Sure, you might think that some of those are obvious and you can correct them on your own; but do you really want to risk it? You’d be surprised at what can slip past you at 4:30 in the morning when you are working on a paper that is due at 9:00.
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