Erin Brenner's Blog, page 5

The Copyeditor’s One-Reference-Work Challenge

Here’s a challenge for you: You’re new to editing and can only afford one reference book. Which one do you purchase?

A reader recently asked me that, and I’m afraid I might have disappointed her by not naming a specific book.

An editor’s two most important resources are the dictionary and style manual required by the job or client. Bless the dictionary makers, the major American dictionaries are available in some format for free online.

That leaves the style manual. If you’re lucky to o...

Why Editing Matters: Investing in Your Book’s Success

As a self-publishing author, you’re faced with a daunting number of decisions. How do you choose the right professionals to work with? How can you ensure your book’s quality while staying within budget and meeting your timeline? 

It’s all a bit overwhelming.

In my previous post, “Dear Indie Author, You Are a Publisher!,” I explained how you’re a publisher and outlined the steps involved in publishing your book. Today, let’s dive deeper into one of the most critical decisions you’ll make: s...

Dear Indie Author, You Are a Publisher!

Dear Independent Author,

Thank you for contacting Right Touch Editing. Your book project sounds interesting and we’d love to work with you on it. There’s one thing, though, that we really want you to understand:

You are a publisher.

Of course, you’re also an author. That’s likely how you think of yourself, and that’s okay.

But if you’re going to self-publish your book, that means you’re also a publisher.

That seems obvious, doesn’t it?

What’s not as obvious is that self-publish...

Righting “More Wrong” and “Wronger”

When my boys were in elementary school, they came to me with a grammar question, “Mom, we’re having a grammar argument. Is it wronger or more wrong?”

The boys had picked up on an exception to the rule for grading adjectives, that is making an adjective comparative or superlative, and found it something to argue about.

The general rule is that words of one syllable take one of the inflectional suffixes, either –er or –est:

Slow—slower—slowest

Words of more than one syllable can take e...

EDITINGThe Copyeditor’s Marketing Vocab PrimerTo edit a s...

EDITING

The Copyeditor’s Marketing Vocab Primer

To edit a subject well, you have to be familiar with its jargon. Download our marketing vocabulary primer to get started.

DOWNLOAD

The post first appeared on Right Touch Editing.

Clarifying the Comma: Independent Clauses & Compound Predicates

Early in my career, a potential employer asked me what the most common error I saw in editing was. I replied, “Commas. No one knows how to use them.” 

Over the years my answer has remained the same. Comma rules are numerous and complicated. There are plenty of exceptions, and not all the rules are governed by grammar or usage. Some rules are simply a matter of style. Love it or hate it, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is popular for a reason.

Here’s an example of the confounding comma: A fellow edit...

Grammar Bite: Prepositions for “Foreclose”

A reader once asked which of the following sentences is correct:

Her home was foreclosed on.

Her home was foreclosed.

Foreclose is a verb that can be either transitive (taking an object) or intransitive (not taking an object). Either way, it means “to take away the borrower’s right to complete the loan (the mortgage) and to take back the property the loan was paying for”:

Transitive: “A bill was filed in the United States Circuit Court yesterday by the Farmers’ Loan and Trust Com...

Grammar Bite: Prepositions for Foreclose

A reader once asked which of the following sentences is correct:

Her home was foreclosed on.

Her home was foreclosed.

Foreclose is a verb that can be either transitive (taking an object) or intransitive (not taking an object). Either way, it means “to take away the borrower’s right to complete the loan (the mortgage) and to take back the property the loan was paying for”:

Transitive: “A bill was filed in the United States Circuit Court yesterday by the Farmers’ Loan and Trust Com...

Genitives & Attributive Modifiers

The average audience member may believe punctuation to be a minor part of a written work, but the copyeditor knows that a simple punctuation error can affect the author’s entire meaning. One of these finicky punctuation marks is the apostrophe. 

I was once asked whether it was correct to include the apostrophe in the following phrases: 

Writers CouncilVisitors CenterPastors Vision TripSponsors Handbook

And if the apostrophe should be included, should it be placed at the en...

The Grammar of “Also”

A reader once sent me the following sentences and asked which was correct and why:

The research also must be validated.

The research must also be validated.

Also is like only in that both are what The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language calls “focusing modifiers”: their position in the sentence determines which element in the sentence they focus on. 

Focusing modifiers can occupy several positions in the sentence, causing either ambiguity or clarity. Like real estate, also’...