A writer-editor-teacher’s quote of the week 216

The point is, when I talk about carefulness, I am actually talking about knowledge. If you don’t know the current trends and rules of style and grammar, you won’t be aware of all the little things that might or might not need attention in a manuscript. You can be the most meticulous person in the world as you start reading, but if you are ignorant of the issues, you will happily read past all the infelicities that should set of alarms.

– from the chapter “Working for the Reader, Through the Writer” in The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago by Carol Fisher Saller