The Things Editors Look for That Writers Have Never Heard of
[image error]
I love to edit. I love knowing the parts of speech. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, clauses, phrases, conjunctions, prepositions, gerunds, subjunctives, infinitives, participles… Have I lost you yet? I wouldn’t be surprised. You have to be a particular kind of person to appreciate these things.
Editors are these particular kinds of people. While some of them are instinctive editors and know from experience how words should appear sequentially and the order that gives them their intended meaning, others are trained editors who also know the names of all the mistakes. Here are a few things editors look for that most writers will never have heard of before.
Count and Mass Nouns
Count nouns are things that can be counted. Flowers, televisions, cats, people. Mass nouns are things that are difficult to quantify and therefore count. Love, chaos, information, freedom.
During a shortage, you would have fewer cats. But during peacetime, you would have less chaos. During a good harvest, you would have many flowers. But during a massacre, you wouldn’t have much love to go around.
Double Negatives
Okay, most writers will probably know what a double negative is but do you know how to interpret this sentence from George Orwell in Politics and the English Language?
“I am not uncertain whether she will not be unaccompanied by her lawyers.”
It took me a while. But the key is to find two negatives that cancel each other out and remove them.
Removal of first double negative: “I am certain she will not be unaccompanied by her lawyers.”
Removal of second double negative: “I am certain she will be accompanied by her lawyers.”
There is always a place for negative constructions but there are few justifiable uses of double negatives.
Sentence Fragments
Most people probably know about sentence fragments these days thanks to them being Microsoft Word’s favourite error. You will also know that sentence fragments aren’t always wrong. They’re great for emphasis.
Example: They are reminders of the things she has lost. (Full sentence) But not painful reminders. (Sentence fragment)
These two sentences are evoking two different sentiments so separating them gives each sentiment a chance to be experienced properly. However, there are some sentence fragments that just don’t make any sense.
Example: Authorities being unable to prevent these cultural changes.
I came up with this example and I’m not even sure what I was trying to say but the correct version of any sentence fragment will have a finite verb or a main clause.
Example: Authorities were unable to prevent these cultural changes.
Modifiers
Strong nouns and verbs are always recommended but sometimes we choose to use more basic words and strengthen them with adjectives and adverbs. These kinds of modifying elements in a sentence should be placed next to the word or words they are modifying (or as close as possible at any rate). This is important because one modifier has the potential to modify many, if not all, of the words in one line of text. Consider the following five identical sentences apart from the placement of the modifier:
*Just I saw her at the park yesterday. (I was the only one who saw her.)
*I just saw her at the park yesterday. (But I didn’t speak to her.)
*I saw just her at the park yesterday. (But I didn’t see anyone else.)
*I saw her just at the park yesterday. (But I didn’t see her anywhere else.)
*I saw her at the park just yesterday. (I saw her recently.)
While they are nearly identical, the simple act of moving the modifier into different positions changes the meaning on each occasion.
Misplaced Modifiers
A misplaced modifier is an adjective, adverb or adjectival/adverbial phrase or clause in the wrong place in a sentence, causing ambiguity or creating unintended meanings.
Example: There is an app on the phone that is never used.
Is it the app that is never used? Or is it the phone that is never used?
Example: Sarah, a former personal trainer and police officer, gave me directions to the train station.
Is Sarah a former personal trainer and a former police officer? Or is Sarah a former personal trainer and current police officer?
Reorder the modifiers or add additional information for clarity.
Example: There is an app that is never used on the phone OR The phone that is never used has an app on it.
Example: Sarah, a police officer and former personal trainer, gave me directions to the train station OR Sarah, a former personal trainer and current police officer, gave me directions to the train station.
Squinting Modifiers
Squinting modifiers appear in the middle of a sentence and could potentially modify the information before it or after it.
Example: She promised in September not to smoke.
Was the promise made in September? Or was the promise not to do it in September?
Move the modifier so that it’s clear which part of the sentence is being modified.
Example: In September, she promised not to smoke OR She promised not to smoke in September.
Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier exists in a sentence where the thing that is being modified is in the wrong place or implied but missing altogether.
Example: Summoning the taxi, the car arrived in less than ten minutes.
Clearly, the taxi must be summoned by a person but there’s no person referenced in that sentence. It needs to be rewritten to include the person.
Example: Summoning the taxi, we were relieved when the car arrived in less than ten minutes.
In the following example, the person is referenced but not in the right place.
Example: Annoyed by Amy’s crying, it was easier for Phillip to just leave the room.
“It” is not annoyed by Amy’s crying, Phillip is. So the sentence should be rewritten to move “Phillip” closer to the modifier.
Example: Annoyed by Amy’s crying, Phillip found it easier to just leave the room.
Split Construction
A split construction is where an auxiliary verb is awkwardly separated from the main verb.
Example: Some people will if provoked by threats retaliate against aggressors.
“Will” is the auxiliary verb and “retaliate” is the main verb and separating them results in a sentence that is more difficult to read. It’s better if they stay together.
Example: Some people will retaliate against aggressors if provoked by threats.
However, not all split constructions are awkward. In some cases, the split constructions are easier to read.
Example: Abigail got on the bus to excitedly show her friends her new dress.
If the word “excitedly” is moved before or after the infinitive, the construction becomes awkward (Abigail got on the bus to show excitedly her friends her new dress) or changes the meaning entirely (Abigail got on the bus excitedly to show her friends her new dress).
Elliptical Construction
An elliptical construction is a sentence where a word or words (usually verbs) are omitted because to include them is repetitious and leaving them out doesn’t alter our understanding of what is being said.
Example: The cat was miaowing and the dog barking.
The missing word is “was” between “dog” and “barking” but the sentence still makes sense because the omitted word is the same as a word already in the mix. Problems occur when the word omitted in an attempted elliptical construction is not the same as the word that remains. Those problems become obvious when you try to reinsert the omitted word.
Example: The day was long and the clouds grey.
Example with omitted word reinserted: The day was long and the clouds was grey.
Correct example: The day was long and the clouds were grey OR The days were long and the clouds grey.
Faulty Parallelism
Parallelism is almost like a list. Each of the components should be formed in the same way and when they aren’t, the flow of the sentence is disrupted.
Example: My sister is smart, thin and a woman of great beauty.
It gets a bit wordy on the end, right. Condense it down into one word just like the other descriptors.
Example: My sister is smart, thin and beautiful.
The key is to match nouns with nouns, adjectives with adjectives, infinitives with infinitives and clauses with clauses.
*****
If it’s all just a little too confusing, that’s what editors are for. But I guarantee that knowing what to look for will make finding them a whole lot easier.
