Copy Editing

Copy editing is a most important and time-consuming task. It nrequires the editor’s close attention to a document’s every ndetail, a thorough knowledge of what to look for and of the nstyle to be followed, and the ability to make quick, nlogical, and defensible decisions in correcting for grammar, npunctuation, terminology, sentence structure, clarity, nconciseness, tone and voice, inconsistencies, and ntypographical errors.nn To begin with, editors are thoroughly familiar with nand comfortable applying the universally accepted editorial nand typographic marks and symbols—as described in the nChicago Manual of Style and summarized under proofreader’s nmarks in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary—that are ncommonly understood by compositors working in English.nn The editorial function comprises two processes: nmechanical editing and substantive editing. Mechanical nediting involves a close reading, with an eye on consistency nof capitalization, spelling, and hyphenation; agreement of nverbs and subjects; scores of other matters of syntax; npunctuation; beginning and ending quotation marks and nparentheses; number of ellipsis points; numbers given either nas figures or as words; and hundreds of other, similar ndetails of grammatical and typographic style.nn In addition to regularizing those details of style, nthe copy editor is expected to catch infelicities of nexpression that mar an author’s prose and impede ncommunication. Such matters include but are by no means nlimited to dangling participles, misplaced modifiers, mixed nmetaphors, unclear antecedents, unintentional redundancies, nfaulty attempts at parallel construction, mistaken junction, noveruse of an author’s pet word or phrase, unintentional nrepetition of words, race or gender or geographic bias, and nhyphenating in the predicate, unless, of course, the nhyphenated term is an entry in the dictionary and therefore npermanently hyphenated. Job seekers especially need to nattend to such details in their n nexecutive résumé. nn The second, nonmechanical, process—substantive nediting—involves rewriting, reorganizing, or suggesting nmore-effective ways to present material. nno Experienced editors recognize, and do not tamper with, an n author’s unusual figures of speech or idiomatic usage.no They preserve the author’s voice with a view toward the n faithful reproduction of the author’s manuscript.no They silently correct inconsistencies, misusages, and n misspellings solely for the purpose of clarifying n the unclear.no They know when to make an editorial change or simply n suggest it. no They know when to delete a repetition or merely point it n out to the author or to job seekers on their executive n résumés.no They respect an author’s right to expect conscientious, n intelligent editorial help. no They never make queries that sound stupid, naive, or n pedantic or that seem to reflect upon an author’s n scholarly ability or powers of interpretation. no And they handle untold and unsung other matters of n style and usage.nnAdapted from the Chicago Manual of Style · * * * * * * * * * n* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * n