Editing Tips

Useful for all written assignments for all of my classes. This page will occasionally be updated. Watch the date at the top of the page.

THE MOST FREQUENT SLIPS IN STUDENT PAPERS:
 

• USE OF COMMAS
• To separate introductory adverbial phrases from the rest of the sentence
• To separate subordinate clauses from the rest of the sentence
• Around titles of works (articles, books, poems, novels)
• Introducing material from articles and books
• USE OF HYPHENS and USE OF HYPHENS vs. USE OF DASHES
• PUNCTUATION AROUND CITATIONS OF SOURCES IN A TEXT
• USE OF SEMICOLON (AND CONFUSION OF COLON AND SEMICOLON)
• PUNCTUATING AROUND 'HOWEVER'
• OVERUSE OF 'WITHIN'
• Abbreviations 'i.e.' vs. 'e.g.'

Words/expressions to avoid:

Why avoid words?   -- Because certain words arouse the suspicion in the reader that the writer is trying to sound intelligent, without convincing the reader that the writer actually is intelligent. Most of these words have exact synonyms which make the writing sound less pompous.  Let the content of your writing impress the reader, not its window dressing.

In other cases, words or expressions are to be avoided for stylistic reasons, or because certain developments in usage in informal English have not yet worked their way into the formal variety of the language. Stylistic matters are often matters of preference, and authorities such as those grading your papers, editors, etc. may disagree.

USE YOUR 'SEARCH AND REPLACE' OR 'FIND' TOOL TO SEARCH FOR THESE WORDS WHEN EDITING. THEN CHANGE THEM.

• within      In most cases, in will serve the purpose. Most of the times I see this word used, in is more appropriate and within is being used because the writer thinks it sounds fancier. Constant repetition of fancy words does not make your ideas fancy.

 
• aspect(s)    Essay graders are really, really tired of this word. Rephrase your sentence; use synonyms such as 'facet', 'characteristic' when they suit the meaning. Most of the time a rephrase of sentence is in order.

 
• Words/expressions that indicate extremes, such as 'outrageous', 'ludicrous', 'incredible', 'amazing': (some of these are too informal for formal writing; others sound exaggerated and irrational):
• EXTREME: "The second thing that I learned was the huge difference in linguistic forms of 'white' and Black English."
• NOT EXTREME: "The second thing that I learned was the significant difference in linguistic forms of 'white' and Black English."
• EXTREME:  'A practical approach to linguistics is believing and realizing that it is not just a science but an art that takes incredible faith to pursue.'   Remove 'incredible'.
• EXTREME: 'This can lead to all kinds of confusion, as seen in the Dutch pilots' case [in which two jumbo jets collided] ... '  Remove 'all kinds of'. The fact that the confusion led to an accident involving two jumbo jets is extreme in itself.

 
• what      To use this as a question word in front of a noun is fine in informal speech, but not yet acceptable in formal writing. Use 'which':
• 'I asked my friend what article she was reading ... '
• 'I asked my friend which article she was reading ... '

 
• Expressions that indicate that the sentence is your own thought or belief, for instance:
• 'I think Cushing does a good job of showing a very practical use of linguistics in training flight personnel.'
• 'I think' or 'I believe' is usually unnecessary. The fact that you are the author of the essay is sufficient to tell the reader that the sentences you write represent your thoughts and beliefs.

'I.e.' vs. 'e.g.'

Students tend to use 'i.e.' where they need 'e.g.'  In conventional, formal usage, 'i.e.' is not used to introduce examples.

I.e. comes from Latin 'id est', 'that is'. It is equivalent in meaning to 'that is'. It is used to introduce a rephrasing of a previous point, a definition or a further clarification or explanation of a preceding point.  Example:
 

• The ability to learn language is innate, i.e. part of our inborn genetic makeup.

The phrase after 'i.e.' defines 'innate'. Notice that it would be fine to write 'that is' in place of 'i.e.'

E.g. comes from Latin 'exempli gratia'. It is used to introduce an example of a previously-mentioned phenomenon. It is the equivalent of the English phrase 'for example.' Example:

Humans have several innate abilities, e.g., language learning, walking, and recognizing faces.
The material after 'e.g.' does not define or explain 'innate abilities'; it merely lists several particular examples of such abilities. Notice that 'for example' is an appropriate substitute for 'e.g.', but 'that is' is not.

Punctuation note: Standard usage calls for a comma after e.g., but not after i.e. Both should be preceded by a comma. Study the examples above closely.
 

Wordiness

Wordy writing doesn't display incorrect formal grammar, but it burdens the reader and adds contentless mass. If your goal is to stay within a low word count, wordiness really hurts. If your goal is to achieve a high word count, and you use wordiness to do this, it is obvious to the reader. Their estimation of your interest in the subject and your willingness to think about it more than superficially declines -- and very possibly, their opinion of you declines as well.

Some hints to reduce wordiness: (these strategies are best used in revising rather than at the composing stage)

• A rule of thumb: Be suspicious of all words having four letters or fewer. This is a very rough guide, but it can work very well. Consider these examples -- notice how many words of four or fewer letters are omitted in the revised versions:
  

WORDY: "The goal of the article was to explain how different features of sound in the initial consonant of a word can connote different meanings."   (24 words)
LESS WORDY:  "The article explained how different features of a word's initial consonant can connote different meanings."   (15 words = 9 words eliminated)

WORDY: "We came to the realization that our decision to have the meetings of our club on Saturday mornings was a bad one."
LESS WORDY: "We realized that having club meetings on Saturday mornings was a bad decision."
EVEN LESS WORDY: "Our club realized that Saturday-morning meetings were unworkable."

• Be wary of every single preposition in your paper (words such as 'of', 'in', 'to', 'for', 'with', 'about', etc.). Give every prepositional phrase consideration. Can it be gotten rid of, or changed into a single word, or moved to a place in front of the word it modifies?

Examples:
WORDY: "The goal of the article was to explain how different features of sound in the initial consonant of a word can connote different meanings."   (24 words)
LESS WORDY:  "The article explained how different features of a word's initial consonant can connote different meanings."   (15 words = 9 words eliminated)

• WORDY:  'If I were to consider a position that would entail some type of communication in the aviation field ... "  (18 words)

LESS WORDY: 'If I were to consider a position in the aviation field  that would entailed some type of communication ... " (12 words)

• Be wary of general-meaning verb + noun pairings that can be expressed as a verb alone:
• make a decision > decide
• have a meeting > meet
• give an explanation for her behavior > explain her behavior

 
• Avoid unnecessary pronouns:

WORDY:  'In Steven Cushing's article 'Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes', he examines ... '
LESS WORDY:  'In  Steven Cushing's article 'Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes' he examines ... '  (Getting rid of 'he' also gets rid of 'in', eliminating two words with one stone.)
WORDY: "In an article by Virginia P. Collier called "Acquiring a Second Language for School, she lays out a model ..."
LESS WORDY: "Virginia P. Collier, in an article called "Acquiring a Second Language for School, lays out a model ..."
WORDY: "In the article Bilingual Education in California it states there are four different categories ... "
LESS WORDY: "The article Bilingual Education in California states there are four different categories ... "

English grammar is always changing. Most of what you see on this list will probably be considered correct in a hundred years, when the people now correcting papers and writing style manuals are dead and gone. But will you live that long?

1. The by problem:

EXAMINE EVERY SENTENCE IN YOUR ESSAY THAT BEGINS WITH 'BY'. USE YOUR 'FIND' TOOL TO LOCATE ALL INSTANCES OF 'BY' AND CHECK THEM.

By allowing any liquor licenses on campus at all, implicitly encourages student drinking.
(Who is doing the allowing, therefore the encouraging? -- No phrase in the sentence tells us.)

Allowing liquor licenses on campus at all implicitly encourages student drinking.

By allowing any liquor licenses on campus at all, the administration implicitly encourages student drinking.
(Who is doing the allowing? -- The administration)

'By using a pronoun instead of a noun allows the statement to be interpreted differently by the receiver.'
Remove 'by':
'Using a pronoun instead of a noun allows the statement to be interpreted differently by the receiver.'

• 'Number' vs. 'amount'  -  'Amount' used to be restricted to occurring only before mass nouns (nouns that designate a continuous substance, not countable chunks or types of a substance, or individual, countable objects). Anything countable required 'number'. Examples:
• a large amount of cash  -  used to be fine, and still is. 'Cash' is conceived of as a continuous substance.
• a large number of books - Books can be counted. This used to be the only acceptable usage. We hear and see in print more and more:
• a large amount of books - This used to be unacceptable, because 'book' is not a mass noun.

• where     The meaning/usage of this word is changing in English. It used to be restricted to standing in for spatial or physical locations; it is generalizing to being able to stand in for nearly anything. The 'anything' usage is becoming accepted in informal speech and writing, but it has not yet worked its way into formal usage (which it eventually will do, I suspect). In formal writing, it is best to restrict the use of 'where' to physical locations.

• Physical location:   A  grassy field where we can have a picnic ...
• Not a location:     A situation where we have to be very cautious ...
• Formal style:      A situation in which we have to be very cautious ...

 
• Not a location: 'The homework assignment involved one-syllable words where the vowel in the rhyme of the word acted as ... '
• Formal style: 'The homework assignment involved one-syllable words in which the vowel in the rhyme of the word acted as ... '

Punctuation rules exist to compensate for signals that are conveyed through tone of voice, intonation, pause, etc. in speech. Punctuation rules are like traffic signals: they are necessary for consistent order in communication, and they are conventional -- that is, they won't accomplish their purpose if everyone does not follow the same rules. We find it annoying when someone fails to provide a turn signal before turning, because we need turn signals to anticipate other drivers' behavior and avoid mishaps. It's also somewhat irritating when someone leaves a turn signal on, but never turns: again, they are sending a false signal that confuses drivers behind them. Stop signs and traffic lights are even more crucial to safety. We can't decide one day that, for us, green means stop and red means go.

Punctuation is used by readers as a clue to your meaning. It plays an important role in signalling how meanings blend -- or don't blend. Readers who know the traditional punctuation rules usually become irritated when those rules aren't followed in a piece of writing. When a grade or job is at stake, reader irritation should be kept to a minimum. Readers also can become confused if the punctuation signals blend meanings in ways that don't fit the context. As with traffic signals, those who know the system have certain expectations; following these expectations guarantees the smooth flow of information just as obeying traffic rules assures the smooth flow of traffic.

Titles of articles cited: DO NOT enclose an article title in commas when it occurs after the author's name:

• WRONG: Bob Cohen's article, "There's more to a name", concerns the ...
• RIGHT:    Bob Cohen's article "There's more to a name" concerns the ...
• WRONG:   ' ... the passenger on the plane is eating microwaved green beans and watching the movie, 'City Slickers ...'
• RIGHT: ' ... the passenger on the plane is eating microwaved green beans and watching the movie 'City Slickers''.

• In Toni Morrison's famous novel "Beloved", readers witness the horror of slaves' journeys across the Atlantic.
• Toni Morrison has written many acclaimed novels. [FIRST MENTION OF THE IDEA OF NOVELS]. One of her most famous novels, "Beloved", recounts the tale of an escaped slave and her children ... [NOTION OF NOVELS HAS ALREADY BEEN INTRODUCED]

 Never put a comma after the word 'although'. USE YOUR SEARCH TOOL TO FIND EVERY INSTANCE OF 'ALTHOUGH' IN YOUR ESSAY AND CHECK FOR EXTRANEOUS COMMAS.

WRONG:  'Although, the vowel sound is the same ... '
RIGHT: 'Although the vowel sound is the same ... '
 

'However' is a word that indicates an oppositional relationship between the information in the preceding sentence and the sentence in which 'however' appears. Grammatically, 'however' is a sentence-level adverb. As such, it can appear in several positions in a sentence:

• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage.
• Their children, however, often regret the loss of that language later in life. (after subject of sentence)
• However, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life. (first in sentence)
• Their children often regret the loss of that language later in life, however. (last in sentence)

Most important is to realize that the sentence before the one with 'however' must end with either a period or a semicolon. Students confuse 'however' with 'although', since they are similar in meaning. 'Although' is a subordinating conjunction, not a sentence-level adverb. Consider these examples; study the punctuation carefully:  

• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage; however, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.
• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage. However, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.
• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage, although their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.

WRONG: The wife's handwriting was always correct in this area. (34)
RIGHT: The wife's handwriting was always correct in this area (34).

• Insert a character space on both sides of all parenthetical statements:
  
• Right: ...  teacher talk (a lot is bad) should be monitored.
• Wrong: ...  teacher talk(a lot is bad) should be monitored.

• Also insert a character space between the end of a quotation and the parentheses that enclose the attribution:

  NOT:   " ... needed to be more accommodating in its treatment of children who spoke Black English"(Labov, 360).
  BUT: " ... needed to be more accommodating in its treatment of children who spoke Black English" (Labov, 360).

Hyphenate a phrase when it appears BEFORE the word it modifies. Phrases are rarely hyphenated after the verb.

(a) The homework assignment involved words of one syllable.  (after verb)
(a') The homework assignment involved one-syllable words. (before modified word)
(b) The child is six years old. (after verb)
(b') The six-year-old child. (before modified word)
(c) 'This article has helped me to understand the importance of linguistics in real-world situations.' (before modified word)
(c') This article has helped me to understand the importance of linguistics in situations in the real world. (after modified word)

Notice this use of hyphens (correct):

I concentrated on the initial consonants in pairs of two- and three-syllable words. (before modified word)

NOTE: I had an interesting experience when I spell-checked this page. The spell-checker told me to eliminate all of the hyphenated modifier phrases in this section! Spell-checkers are not fully reliable in matters of punctuation.

Hyphens in verb + preposition constructions:

Verbs that occur with prepositions in special idiomatic constructions (such as 'take off', 'pair up', 'put down', etc.) are not written with hyphens when they are acting as verbs. They are written with hyphens when they are used as nouns or as modifiers placed before the words they modify.
 

• Verbal use:   The plane will take off in 5 minutes.
• Noun use:  The plane is cleared for take-off.
• Modifier use:  Because of the mechanical problem, we lost our take-off slot.
• Verbal use:  Students will then pair up and conduct interviews.
• Modifier use:  Next comes a pair-up activity in which the students conduct interviews.
• Verbal use:  It's unwise to continuously put down your significant other in front of other people.
• Noun use:  That remark could easily be interpreted as a put-down.

 

• After that remark, no wonder you feel put down.
• For this exercise, the students are paired up.

Pronunciation hint: Use a hyphen when the first word of the pair is more heavily stressed than the second, no hyphen when the words are stressed equally or the second has heavier stress (capital letters indicate heavy stress). There are some exceptions to this rule (e.g. self-HELP), but they are few.
 

What a PUT-down!
I felt put DOWN by that remark.

We're cleared for TAKE-off.
We will TAKE OFF in five minutes.
 

• No hyphen: class time (as in 'the activity uses too much class time'), ice cream, learning disorder, dishwashing liquid,  home run
• Written together: homework, houseboat, armchair, meatball, skateboard, whitewash, gangbanger
• Hyphenated: self-help, red-hot, full-fledged, no-brainer

Hyphen vs. Dash:

• Hyphens look like this:    -
  
• Dashes are longer, and usually require a special keystroke, or  they are made by typing two hyphens in a row: --
• Use of hyphens: Only between words of a compound word,  or between words in a premodifying  phrase:  self-help, red-hot, our boom-and-bust economy.
• Also use hyphens to hyphenate a word across a line break (most computers do this for you, if at all), or to introduce items in a list (as in this list, below the heading 'Some editing hints'.
• Use dashes to set off parenthetical or 'aside' items in a sentence. On computer, it is advisable to insert a character space on each side of the dash, although it is acceptable to not do so:
• The main use of dashes--in formal grammar, at least--is to set off parenthetical material.
• She was her usual self -- that is to say, whiny and hypercritical.
  

Semicolon

The semicolon ;

The semicolon has ONLY two uses in English punctuation:

•  It is an end-of-sentence mark. The mark it resembles most closely is the period. Use it between two full sentences which are highly relevant to each other in meaning.
• Example: "The lamb does not bleat in deliberate imitation of the sheep-community into which it is born; it bleats as its genetic blueprint lays down for it." (B. M. H. Strang, A History of English, Methuen & Co., 1970, p. 5). (The reason for the lamb's bleating makes these two sentences relevant to each other.)
• A semicolon may be used within a list if the items in the list have commas inside them.
• Example: For a successful birdwatching expedition in the tropics, you will need the following: binoculars with 8- or 10-power magnification; an up-to date field guide, tailored to the region; clothing that provides good protection from sun, rain and insects, but which allows air to flow through; and strong insect repellent.

Semicolon   ;   vs. colon    :        Hit that shift bar!

Use a colon to introduce a quotation, explanation, or list of items.

• NOT: The following statement by Labov illustrates this idea; "The weak correlation between the ... "
• BUT: The following statement by Labov illustrates this idea: "The weak correlation between the ... "

Here is the source of trouble with apostrophes:

• We have three endings: -'s, -s,-s'.
• -s an d -'s are BOTH used to mark plural and possession in nouns (see examples below).
• Apostrophes are also used to mark possession on nouns with a regular plural ending -s.
• In addition, apostrophes are used to marked contractions, that is, words from which letters or sounds have been left out.

• Most of the time, -'s marks a noun as a possessor of the noun that follows:
• the cat's tail - "the tail that is part of the cat"
• Carla's car - "the car that belongs to Carla"
• the club's bylaws - "the bylaws for the club"

• Most of the time, -s alone marks plural of a noun:
• Cats like tuna.
• Most important to me are my family relationships.
• Antiques for Sale
  
  When in doubt, ask "more than one cat? more than one antique?"
  
  
• -' marks possession on a regular plural noun:
• the cats' tails  (more than one cat)
• the students' ideas (more than one student)
  
  When in doubt, ask "the tails of several cats? the ideas of several students?"

• Apostrophe in contractions:
• doesn't = does not
• could've = could have
• he's, she's, it's = he is, she is, it is
  
  Catch phrase to remind yourself:  "it's a contraction" = it is a contraction

• In certain cases, possessive forms have no apostrophe:
• This hat must be yours.
• Where is his mother?
• The bird has a bug in its beak.

• -'s marks possessive on irregular-plural nouns:
• women's clothing (women is already plural)
• children's books
  

• For certain odd spellings, plural is marked with -'s:
• A's and B's
• The page was covered with x's and o's.
• The children were practicing writing 8's and 9's.
• Shakespeare lived in the 1500's. 

WRONG:  'I never thought about translating the Bible from a linguists point of view.'
( = from the point of view of a linguist)
RIGHT:   'I never thought about translating the Bible from a linguist's point of view.'

YOUR SPELL CHECKER WILL NOT FIND THESE ERRORS! YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THEM.

• Chose is the past form. Choose is the non-past form. Let pronunciation be your guide. 'Oh' = o/chose  and 'oo' as in 'goo-goo eyes' = oo/choose.
  
• Lose is the verb; it ends in the <z> sound. Loose is the adjective; it ends in the <s> sound.

 
•   'Hey, lose the mustache, dude!'
•   'Hey, my attack-trained pit bull got loose!'
  
• Than  occurs ONLY IN COMPARISONS.  Then is the spelling for all other uses.
• Comparison:  ' ... it had alot more to do with it than I thought.'
• Comparison:  ' ... the tumor had grown bigger more rapidly than we had expected'
• Not comparison:
• sequence of events: Exit the parking lot, then turn right, then go straight for two miles, then turn left on Vachel Lane ... '
• logical conclusion / consequence:  'If all humans are mortal and Socrates is a human, then Socrates is mortal.' 'You're sick? Ah. You won't be coming with us then.'

• affect, effect  For the moment, we are stuck with two different spellings for this word in its meaning 'to have an impact upon': the noun is spelled with <e>, the verb with <a>. Sort out which is which in your own writing by various means:

 
• Put an object (the person or thing affected) after the word. If you need 'on', you're using the noun: 'The Challenger disaster had a great effect on me.'
• If you don't need 'on', you're using the verb: 'The Challenger disaster affected me greatly.
• If you can use 'the' in front of the word, you're using the noun:

'The effects of the drug on pregnant and nursing women are as yet unknown.'

USE YOUR FIND/REPLACE TOOL TO FIND EVERY INSTANCE OF AFFECT/EFFECT IN YOUR PAPER AND CHECK WHETHER IT IS NOUN OR VERB. VERB = AFFECT   NOUN = EFFECT

Just to confuse you: We also have a noun 'affect' and a verb 'effect' in English. Fortunately, their meanings are different from 'affect=V effect=N'.  The noun 'affect' is a psychological term referring, roughly, to emotion -- an 'affective response' is an 'emotional response', not an 'effective response'. The verb 'effect' means to produce, bring about, or create: 'The financial drain of the Cold War effected the collapse of the Soviet bloc' = produced, caused, created, brought about the collapse of the Soviet bloc.  You can only 'affect' (have an impact on) something after it has been 'effected' (produced, created). The following sentence uses all of the words, in all of their spellings, in their correct meanings. Read it and weep (or leap for joy, if you love this kind of stuff!)

An effective treatment for phobias is to use desensitization therapy to effect the desired affective response, having a beneficial effect on the patient's affect.