Transcript EDITING

EDITING
EDITING FOR CLARITY
Wordy Sentences
Eliminate redundancies
Redundancies are meaningless repetitions
that result in wordiness.
Eg:
First and foremost, full and complete, final
result, past history, mix together, join together,
round in shape, blue in colour, and refer back
1.
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Wordy Sentences
Eg:
Students living in close proximity in the dorms
need to cooperate together if they want to live
in harmony.
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Wordy Sentences
Do not repeat words unnecessarily
Although repetition is sometimes used for
emphasis, unnecessary repetitions weaken
sentences and should be removed.
2.
Eg:
The children enjoyed watching television more
than they enjoyed reading books.
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Wordy Sentences
Replace wordy phrases with concise
alternatives.
Make your sentences more concise by
replacing wordy phrases with appropriate
one-word alternatives.
Eg:
Tests must now
It is necessary at this point in time that tests
to measure
be run for the purposes of measuring the
switch’s strength.
3.
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Wordy Sentences
Wordy Phrases
Concise Alternatives
at this point in time
Now
in this day and age
Nowadays, today
in the not-too-distant future
Soon
In close proximity to
Near
Is necessary that
Must
Is able to
Can
Has the ability to
Can
Due to the fact that
Because
In spite of the fact that
Although
In the event that
If
In order to
To
For the purpose(s) of
To
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Wordy Sentences
4.
Make your sentences straightforward.
Concise sentences are straightforward; they
get to the point quickly instead of in a
roundabout way.
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Wordy Sentences
Roundabout:
There are stylistic similarities between “This
Lime-Tree Bower” and “Tintern Abbey,” which
are indications of the influence that Coleridge
had on Wordsworth.
Straightforward:
The stylistic similarities between “This LimeTree
Bower” and “Tintern Abbey” indicate that
Coleridge influenced Wordsworth.
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Wordy Sentences
Reduce Clauses and Phrases
For conciseness and clarity, simplify your
sentence structure by turning modifying
clauses into phrases.
Eg:
The film JFK, which was directed by Oliver
Stone, revived interest in the conspiracy theory.
5.
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Missing Words
When editing, make sure you have not
omitted any words the reader needs to
understand the meaning of your sentence.
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Missing Words
Add words needed to make
compound structures complete
and clear.
For conciseness, words can sometimes be
omitted from compound structures.
His anger is extreme and his behaviour violent.
In this, the 2nd is can be omitted because
verb in the 1st part of the compound
structure is also is.
1.
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Missing Words
Do not leave out part of a compound
structure unless both parts of the
compound are the same.
Eg:
The gang members neither cooperated with
nor listened to the authorities.
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Missing Words
2.
Include that when it is needed for
clarity.
The attorney argued that men and women
should receive equal pay for equal work.
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Missing Words
3.
Make comparisons clear.
I loved my grandmother more than my sister
did.
• I loved my grandmother more than I loved
my sister.
•
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Missing Words
When you use as to compare people or
things, be sure to use it twice:
Napoleon’s temper was as volatile as a
volcano.

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Missing Words
Add articles (a, an, the) where necessary.
Omitting an article usually makes an
expression sound odd, unless the omission
occurs in a series of nouns.
4.


A dog that bites should be kept on a leash.
He gave me the books he liked best.
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Confusing Shifts
When you are editing, look for jarring shifts
in point of view, tense, mood, or voice that
may confuse readers.
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Confusing Shifts
1.
Make your point of view consistent in
person and number.
1st Person
2nd Person
3rd Person
I or We
You
He, she, it, one, or they
(emphasizes the writer
and is used in personal
writing.)
(focuses attention on the
readers and is used to
give them directions,
orders, or advice)
(topic oriented and
therefore prevalent in
academic writing)
Once you choose a point of view, you
should use it consistently.
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Confusing Shifts
Students will have no trouble getting access to
a computer if you they arrive at the lab before
noon.
•
Note: When making a general statement
about what people should or should not do, use
the third person, not the second person.
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Confusing Shifts
Confusing shifts in number occur when
writers switch from singular to plural or
plural to singular for no apparent reason.
When you correct such shifts, you should
usually choose the plural to avoid using his
or her.
* A person is People are often assumed to be
dumb if they are attractive and smart if they
are unattractive.
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Confusing Shifts
2.
Keep your verb tenses consistent
Present
Past
Future
(Use the tense consistently and change
tense only when the meaning requires it)
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Confusing Shifts
* The wind was blowing a hundred miles an
hour when suddenly there is was a big crash,
and a tree falls fell into the living room.
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Confusing Shifts
You may introduce inconsistencies when
you are using the present perfect, perhaps
because the past participle causes you to
slip from present tense to past tense.
* She has admired many strange buildings at
the university but thought thinks that the new
Science Center looked looks completely out of
place.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
All verbs must agree with their subjects in
person (first, second, or third – I, we; you; he,
she, it, they) and number (singular or plural)
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Subject-Verb Agreement
•
A bear lives in the woods near my home.
Bear is a third-person singular noun, and
lives is the third-person singular form of
the verb.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Many North American mammals hibernate
in the winter.
•
Mammals is a third-person plural noun,
and hibernate is the third-person plural
form of the verb.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Learn the standard subject-verb
combinations
•
For regular verbs, the present tense –s or –
es ending is added to the verb if its subject
is third-person singular; otherwise, the verb
has no ending.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Present Tense Forms of Regular Verb
Singular
Plural
First Person
I read.
We read.
Second Person
You read.
You read.
Third Person
He, she, it reads.
They read.
Note: Verb be has irregular forms in both
the present and past tense.
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Present Tense and Past Tense Forms of
Irregular Verb Be
Singular
Plural
First Person
I am/was here.
We are/were here.
Second Person
You are/were here.
You are/were here.
Third Person
He, she, it is/was here.
They are/were here.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
The verbs have and do have the following
forms in the present tense.
Present Tense Forms of the verb Have
Singular
Plural
First Person
I have.
We have.
Second Person
You have.
You have.
Third Person
He, she, it has.
They have
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Present Tense Forms of the Verb Do and its
Negative Don’t
Singular
Plural
First Person
I do/don’t.
We do/don’t.
Second Person
You do/don’t
You do/don’t
Third Person
He, she, it does/doesn’t
They do/don’t
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Do not lose sight of the subject when a
word group separates it from the verb.
The leaders of the trade union opposes
oppose the new law.
•
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Note: If a word group beginning with as well
as, along with, or in addition to follows a
singular subject, the subject does not
become plural.
My teacher, as well as other faculty members,
oppose opposes the new school policy.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Treat most compound subjects- subjects
connected by and, or, nor, both…and,
either…or, neither…nor- as plural.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
The king and his advisers were
shocked by this turn of events.
PLURAL
This poem’s first line and last word
have a powerful effect on the readers.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Some
compound
singular:
subjects
are
There are exceptions to the rule that
subjects joined by and are plural.
Compound subjects should be treated as
singular in the following circumstances:
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Subject-Verb Agreement
When they refer to the same entity:
My best girlfriend and most dependable advisor is my
mother.
When they are considered as a single unit:
In some ways, forty acres and a mule continues to be
what is needed.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
When they are preceded by the word each
or every:
Each man, woman, and child deserves respect.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Some compound subjects can be
either plural or singular.
Compound subjects connected by or, nor,
either…or, or neither…nor can take either a
singular or a plural verb, depending on the
subject that is closest to the verb.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
SINGULAR
Either the children or their mother is to blame.
PLURAL
Neither the experimenter nor her subjects were
aware of the takeover.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Treat most collective subjects – subjects
like audience, family, and committee – as
singular.
A collective noun means names a unit made
up of many persons or things, treating it as
an entity. Some familiar examples are
audience, family, group, and team.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Treat most indefinite subjects- subjects like
everybody, no one, each, all, and none- as
singular.
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Subject-Verb Agreement
Most indefinite pronouns are singular:
All, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either,
everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody,
no one, none, nothing, one, somebody, someone,
and something are always singular.
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PUNCTUATION
SPELLING
ABBREVIATIONS
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TASHI DELEK
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