Don’t get tied up by the red tape of this B when tangling with a bureaucrat.

Bureaucrat – the noun can mean:

• official usually employed by a government or public body (especially one determined to stick as closely as possible to set procedures)

Bureaucracy – the noun can mean:

• over-complicated administrative procedures
• government dominated by state officials

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It’s helpful to remember that both verb and noun forms accommodate two cs and two ms.

Accommodate – the verb can mean:

• to provide housing or space
• to oblige
• to adapt to

Accommodation – the noun can mean:

• rooms, lodging or building where someone can live or stay
• adaption
• convenient arrangement

Return frequently for our A to Z of spelling tips plus copywriting and proofreading hints.

The client, a business, called to ask how much it would cost to proofread their client magazine. We asked for a word count and a possible sample of the text. Seeing a sample gives us an idea of how much work is involved. Poorly written material can take two or three times longer to proofread than good writing, as much of the time is spent figuring out what the author really means and how it should be amended or whether it needs more advanced editing.

Having agreed the price, dates are set for when the draft magazine will be available and when the annotated text needs to be returned to the client.

The text arrives as a PDF on the agreed date and we proofread it, checking spelling, grammar and punctuation, seeing that it makes sense, marking up inconsistencies and generally making sure it is all fine. We mark up the PDF with electronic notes in Adobe Acrobat.

When completed, we email back the PDF so that the client can read the annotations on the PDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The client is very pleased. It’s all gone smoothly and the magazine will go to print free from error.

That’s how proofreading works – more details at www.proofreadingresources.co.uk