This tags on to a discussion in the Shopping Company section, but I thought it worth posting as a topic of its own. I hear people wonder (not just here, but in other situations as well) how it was that their report or essay or other document was marked down for spelling and grammar because, well, they used spell-check! How could it be wrong? Here's how:
"Deer Editor, your always pointing out what Ivey don’t wrong, but ewe never tell me when its write."
I wrote that to point out to somebody once that you can't rely on spell-check to proofread your work. That mess wasn't flagged by spell-check at all. Nothing is misspelled, the punctuation is correct, and the grammar is fine.
The only way you can be sure that what you wrote is what you meant to write is through old-fashioned proofreading -- with your own brain and eyes. If you're unsure of a spelling or usage, look it up. Don't trust spell-check, predictive text, auto-correct, and so on. There are wonderful resources that can help you if you're not sure how to punctuate something, whether to use compliment or complement, if the correct usage is "I spell poor" or "I spell poorly," etc. Spellings are easy look-ups, but there are great grammar sites, too. I use hard-copy style guides, but when I don't have one at hand, I use the Purdue Owl (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html). It's more professional and accurate than many popular online guides written by self-styled experts. Some know what they're doing; some don't.
I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.