For a writer there is nothing more embarrassing than a silly spelling mistake; other than leaving a bad impression, it reflects the writer as a careless person who doesn't even bother to spell check. But those who work with online or software editors regularly, can understand the frustration when at times a spell checker proves out to be a curse rather than a blessing. Not only does it drastically deteriorate one's spelling skills but also accepts grammatically wrong dictionary words. Words like 'their and there', 'it's and its', 'loose and lose' or 'affect and effect, 'meat and meet', 'weak and week' can alter the meaning of a sentence, without the writer even noticing it.

Therefore, Google Docs has recently updated their spell check, using Google's popular 'Did you mean' technology. Many of us tend to make spelling errors while Googling, but we don't have to give our spelling skills a second thought, because Google intuitively presents you with the correct term. I am sure there are many out there like me who prefer Google, rather than a dictionary for a spell (and meaning) check...mostly because it's faster and convenient. To make things more convenient, you can now use Google's intelligent spell check with online documents and presentations.

"The neat thing about that system is that it’s adaptive: our suggestions get smarter and smarter based on the words Googlebot sees as it explores the web." shares Google's software engineer, Yew Jin Lim, further adding, "We’re launching an update to spell checking in documents and presentations that grows and adapts with the web, instead of relying on a fixed dictionary. This update has a few big advantages over traditional spell checkers:"

So what does it mean when we say that the updated spell check is intelligent?

Well, it means that it is contextual. It is smart enough to understand when you mistakenly type 'their' instead of 'there' or 'if' rather than 'of'. Here's an interesting example presented by Yew Jin Lim:







If you type "Iceland is an icland' or perhaps 'let's meat at the library', the spell check will suggest you to change the word to 'island' and 'meet' automatically.

Now, what does it mean when we say adaptive?

These are times when a slang attracts more attention than an intellectual word, and with a lot of help from the internet, many new words are being introduced and becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, the new spell check is adaptive enough to find and suggest non-traditional words.




"As Google crawls the web, we see new words, and if those new words become popular enough they’ll automatically be included in our spell checker—even pop culture terms, like Skrillex." writes Yew Jim Lim.

The new spell checker is currently available for English documents and presentations, but Google plans to bring it to new languages pretty soon.

Of course, this updated spell check will make you more efficient, but does this also mean that it will further hamper your spelling skills? Give it a try and share your views in the comment section below.


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