Re: Explaining your edits (was: Whaddaya know?)
<<[Dick] That's not a totally unreasonable position, but I see it as being
both time-consuming and non-reproducible. If what I am aiming for is
continuous improvement (in the sense that I want each of my clients to get
better with time and reduce the editing burden as a result), then I want my
editors to have the vocabulary--and be able to teach the vocabulary--to talk
about the written language with those clients.>>
And sometimes, apart from the noble but foredoomed fight to teach our
authors to write better, you run up hard against an author who simply won't
accept a change unless you can document the reason for your change;
sometimes it's pure "I don't trust you" and sometimes it's "I'd like to
understand why you made the change so I can write better", but in either
case, it's a golden opportunity to build a relationship in which the author
learns to respect and trust your expertise. I've often photocopied pages
from a style guide to explain and justify a point--and occasionally, upon
re-examination of my position, found that I couldn't justify my change,
admitted that I blew it, and backed down and let the author's original
stand. (Or proposed a compromise that I _could_ justify.)
On the other hand, in what was simultaneously one of my proudest and least
noble moments, I once stared a particularly obstreperous author in the eye,
and said something very much like: "The problem is that English grammar,
unlike French and German grammar, doesn't let us mix to mix the genitive
form of a plural gerund with the subjunctive voice in an absolute or
relative clause."* Said author blinked, rebooted his "adversarial mode"
software, and responded. "Oh. Well, as long as you had a good reason for the
change."
Back to the old military adage, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." English is a live language. Unlike the French we do not maintain an official language. English changes. So will the rules. They already have. They will again.
I think we should go back to the old days. If you cannot speak Angle or Saxon, or Celtic, you are out to lunch.
But, you already know that the battle has already passed on to new terrain, and I am preaching to the choir.
Scott
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