Do you cringe at typos and grammatical errors in newspapers, magazine articles, Internet articles and web sites? Do you find yourself correcting the errors as you read along? Then being a freelance editor or proofreader might be the home-based business for you.

It's true that many freelance editors have college degrees with an English Major. Or at the very least, they've taken a good number of English classes. However, having a degree is not a requirement for being a freelance editor. The only real requirement is a good, no a great, grasp of the English language. There are many successful freelance editors today, who have taken some classes, but have no degree. Those editors have a great grasp of the language.

Be careful though. There are many confusing properties of the English language. There are many different parts to a sentence, a paragraph, and an entire paper. It's important to know about spelling and capitalization; but it's just as important to know when to use a comma versus a semi-colon, and what exactly a dangling modifier is.

If you think that just because you use a program that checks spelling and grammar, you're all set, you're dead wrong. These programs are limited in their capabilities. They can't check a writer's intonation, intended purpose, or desired outcome. These programs often check to ensure a word is spelled correctly, but can't determine if it is the proper word to use in a statement.

For instance, the sentence below was marked as correct using a spelling/grammar-checking program:

Incorrect: The birds were in each of there nests.

Correct: The birds were in each of their nests.

You can probably see the error, but these so-called “expert” programs cannot. And if you can't see the difference, then walk, no run to the nearest door!

Seriously though, I read an article awhile back that proposed only using programs with spelling/grammar checkers. The article indicated that this would be all you need to put a professional document on the Internet – document meaning article or web page.

I am in no way stating you shouldn't use these programs. I use them all the time, but only as a backup resource. I depend on my own knowledge of the language to edit a document. Once my corrections are noted, I then run the document through the spell/grammar checker. Sometimes it finds things that I missed; sometimes it finds things that are correct, yet marks them wrong. But they are very good at finding statements written with a passive voice. For that I give them credit.

Yet, I digress. If you are considering becoming a freelance editor or proofreader, I applaud you. There is nothing like the satisfaction of knowing you've helped someone provide a professional (edited) document for publication.