Editing Gone Mad

One of the first things that I like to do when I receive an e-mail or flyer to print at work is to skim through it for errors. I do not claim to be a grammatical or editing genius, but I can spot an extra space in a sentence from a mile away. (Who taught those kids to hit the space bar twice after a period?!)

Five things that drive me crazy:
1) The misuse of the words there, their and they're.
2) Any misspelled word. With spell-check in word processing programs and even included during e-mail composition, this leaves no excuse for misspellings! Especially with Google. (Did you mean definitely?)
3) Too much "fluff". Get. To. The. Point.
4) The unnecessary comma before "and" when listing items/things in a sentence. (ex.: "We ate corn, green beans, and mashed potatoes for dinner.")
5) People who misuse a word in a sentence, thinking it means something it does not. Once again, Google. Please.

I make mistakes when I am writing, but even I like to dissect it afterwards to ensure that I don't sound like a complete idiot. Sometimes I even use a pen on a posted memo to put in the apostrophe that's missing, or a capital letter when need be.

I miss editing. So if I correct your writing, please don't take offense. I am only trying to put my expensive journalism degree to use.