“Here is your paper. You have very many sentences missing words, why do you think that happened?” This was the first time someone really comforted me with this hidden embarrassing and shamming trait in my writing. I was scared to answer. I didn’t know what to say to them, because really didn’t why that was happening.

As a literature student, it was embarrassing to be good with your arguments but have such mistakes in your work. I had to work twice as hard to make sure my train of thought was shared well in my discussions and deliberation on paper as they were in my speech. I would have to write fast and leave enough space for a word I might have missed so that when I do my re-reading I can fix it if I found it. Other times I would still miss it because in my mind the sentence is perfect as I had thought it and written it.

Always have to apologize for missing a word

Up until now I still struggle with this. When I am still in the same state of mind and on the same train of thought, I miss out on the corrections that need to be done when I re-read my work. It would take me a day to go back to my work and re-read to see what I missed and do the necessary corrections.

For one who runs a content marketing agency, always creating communication materials and message-ables, this is where the embarrassment becomes guilt-ridden. Sharing a piece of content with missing words can be a turn-off for readers. One time a friend reached out, took me for lunch and had a conversation about my writing issues where he concluded and suggested that maybe I am dyslexia.

People, what a scare! I was not ready for that conclusion. I googled the disease immediately. Never had I been described like that. The hardest my teachers did was tell me maybe I have spelling problems and thus decide to jump the words I couldn’t spell but could pronounce. Yeah, there was that spelling issue but this was to be blamed on the kindergarten school I only attended for 1 year.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding), this wasn’t me! I booked a session with a family doctor my uncle and had him find the doctor to help me.

“Your brain is too fast than your hands. Your tongue also very faster than your hands, that’s why you’ll never have this happen when you speak, only when you write”, said the doctor after many writing sessions of him examining me. “Notice the word present in your head while typing a sentence. You’ll notice that the word in your head is often a couple of words further along with the sentence than the one you are typing at that moment”. He concluded with suggestions of almost the same things I had been doing like write and re-read two days later, find an editor, think slowly while typing.

Today, my close friends say I have a Subaru engine (my brain/mind) in a Vitz (body) hence the accidents that tend to happen in my writing, even in my idea development processes. My team says I can be so far ahead of my time with my thoughts and how I deliver them. “You are too fast and you always forget the good stuff afterward”. On this one, we have settled with me recording my speeches so I remember and they can catch up too.

With spell checkers as an enabler on my gadgets, I have managed to have this underlap but sometimes it comes through and I have nothing to do about it… ( have you seen some of my tweets?! God!) Just own it and move on- that is me. But for client’s work, my team is so deliberate at this and makes sure they catch it at all times. I even had an editor for my blogs, RIP Nevendar!

I can’t change it but I have managed to own and use it to my advantage. Not have it limit or stop me from writing. I am even now writing a book. Someone called it an intelligence trait that I should be proud of and show off. But as with all things, there are negatives and positives. I will take any. So, if you are like me leave me a comment and let us throw a party celebrating our Subaru engines. Also, every good gift comes from God and worthy of celebration.

Patricia Kahill

Patricia Kahill is a multipotentialite Christian entrepreneur, Content Marketing Coach and founder of the Content Marketing agency, Kahill Insights that helps business owners create engaging and interactive content items for digital platforms with a focus on returning a desired outcome. Patricia was the producer of SlamDunk Basketball Talk a show on House of Talent online TV, a former fellow at Harvest Institute for leadership and now an assessor there, and an alumnus of the YELP class of 2017. A member of the BNI Integrity chapter and African Women Entrepreneur Cooperative. She is driven by passion and curiosity, been taking every opportunity that has been given to her with an ambition of stamping her footprint on the world.


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24 thoughts on “Missing Out Words While Typing, My Struggle.”

  1. Hahaha..Subaru engine in a Vitz…that’s funny
    I like to think of myself as a Mercedes engine in a Mercedes body…let me go study what the engine and boy of a Mercedes do first

  2. (Spoiler alert: I am no native English speaker….)
    “This sentence no verb.”
    This is the funnier version of what happens when write and miss words – especially when writing emails. The “Subaru in a Vitz” picture is hopefully that, which describes all these effects best. Other reasons could be found on the internet, with are much more of an “intense” impact to anybodies life, who fight with these symptoms: dyslexia, asperbergers. asphasia, dementia, brain tumor….
    Choose one you like. It would so helpful to be sure, that’s “the pure brain power” (or slow hands…) only, which let me skip words…
    Any idea how to narrow down this pool of reasons ?
    Sorry for being pessimistic – it seems, I read too much about a topic already…

    1. Look like you need to find the information because as seen you want to know why your mind knows it sent the words to be written but your paragraph doesn’t have it. Also when you reread, you still see the word there but the receiver says ‘not there’.
      I have had to read more about this, consult with doctors, and found I am a normal woman with a fast brian…
      Thank you for commenting and sharing more information, I will try to look at it and see if I can find one that I fancy.

  3. Happens to me all the time and found this while researching it. so guess I am with you, i will take the gift and have to read them out allowed before I hit the send button 🙂

  4. It is definitely embarrassing at times. I frequently miss propositions. The worst part is that I won’t be able to catch those mistakes even while proof-reading. Mind fills up the non existing words.

    1. So true when I read it i see the word that’s not there my brain fills in the gaps so frustrating and embarrassing

  5. I am glad to know that I am not the only one with this condition. I am in a mid-management and client-facing position where my emails are often to executives in and out of the company. Even after I proofread and re-read and re-read my emails, to my horror I often discover that I missed some words or even added additional when doing too many edits.
    it feels as if my eyes are fooling my brain all the time. I see whats non-existent or I don’t see what is actually written.

    and this is increasing as my work gets more stressful or as i am aging towards my 40 🙁

  6. Install grammarly on your phone. On your pc, install grammarly extension in your browser. This will give you spell and grammar checking.

  7. I thought there’s something wrong with me till i came across your article. That’s hilarious and comforting when u mentioned “Subaru in a Vitz”. I always take a deep breath before writing and texting, but sometimes it just went through helplessly. I always remind myself to re-read the message before sending but just too anxious to hit the “send” button. Thanks for enlightening me to accept it and view it optimistically.

  8. I really struggle with this. I’m turning 40 and I’m over it I want to be better. I know I need to stop rushing. Is there therapy or help for this.,,.
    It’s embarrassing and I need to do better. I thought by taking ADHD medicine it would get better and that has not been the case.

  9. That’s funny because in the sentence “I didn’t know what to say to them, because really didn’t why that was happening.” you forgot two words : “I” and “know”. In the part “because I really didn’t know why that was happening”.

    It happens to me a lot and I constantly read 2 or 3 times before pressing send!

  10. I leave out words almost every time I am writing or typing something that has multiple sentences. Sometimes I’ll add articles where they are not required or leave out the subject a sentence altogether. I will not notice it on first glance but when I read it again later it’s an obvious and glaring error in my writing.

  11. On your first paragraph:
    “because really didn’t why that was happening.”
    I think you left words out here.

    P.S. I do the same thing all the time.
    But the funny thing is…..
    I read it as “because I really didn’t know why that was happening.”
    So my brain picked it up easy. Porbably dyslexic my self.

  12. This is me! I’m 22 and I have always struggled with the mechanics of writing. From grammar, punctuation, spelling, word tense agreement, everything. It makes me so self conscious about what I write because everytime, I reread what I send, Im embarrassed and horrified I didn’t catch the mistakes. I feel like there is something wrong with me! I know I’m a good writer, but the technical side of writing I struggle alot. It’s always the little words, or leaving out suffixies like “ing”.

    I feel the same, my brain goes so fast, that I legitimately see the correct text before I hit send that only after, I give some time away, I can see the text as it is, not as i think it to be.

    And I hate how, other people who don’t struggle with this might think your less intelligent because your writing isn’t 100% correct. However, I have know countless people who are very intelligent but struggle communicating through writing.

    Finding your post helped me feel not so alone.

    1. Hello, thank you for leaving a comment on this blog and sharing your experience.
      We are vert many here who are going through what you are. I am glad we not open to being considered less intelligent.

  13. I too have the same problem (and I write for a living). I was reading something in a psychology group about this issue: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/18442/omitting-words-when-typing
    Nice to know I am not alone but frustrating nonetheless, especially as I often miss these things on a proofread. I do think it is a disconnect between the brain and the hands – but I also believe I would have the same problem even if I could somehow type faster. Also a lot of my omitted words are short words like the, it, an, that and so forth.
    Thanks for sharing – if nothing else it’s nice to have company!

  14. Hi Kahill’s,
    Thanks for your input. I think I have the same problem , that you were describing.
    Hoping if there is a cure.

  15. Same here. It’s embarrassing since I write a lot of emails for work. I often don’t notice it until later. I also misread emails and dates. It’s hard for my brain to slow down. It seems like it’s always in a frenzy. I’ve had seizures in the past and I take medicine for it. I wonder if that plays a role.

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