Editing and its role

Editing is very crucial to one's work as any mistakes could alter the meaning of the text. Mistakes can mislead the readers who will then feel confused. All sorts of mistakes (either punctuation or grammar mistakes) could be made unintentionally. There comes the role of the editors who edit articles for newspapers, magazines, whole books and online resources.

I believe it is a very essential part of the final product (text, article, book) as the least a publisher would like is to publish an unedited book that may ruin their image and reputation. The product has to be reliable in terms of grammar as it is an official resource (sometimes used for academic purposes).

With the computer era coming in many editors have lost their jobs, however I am certain that most computers, or programmes (even Microsoft Word) can make mistakes as they cannot figure out the whole meaning behind the text; those programmes can't distinguish what the author has tried to say or to see through the context of the text. In case a new more reliable programme is developed that can replace the human being editors, I would be very sceptic in using it as I wouldn't trust the machines to know better than us.

In the second part of today's class we did two editing exercises, which I didn't find very challenging as I feel quite confident with my grammar skills. But I found a couple of words that I was doubting about in terms of definition.

Below are the exercises we did; the answers I have selected are highlighted in yellow.

Exercise 1. Insert the correct word in the sentence

1. I shall complain to the head of ........................... (personnel/personal)

2. I’m not ..................... to the idea. (adverse/averse)

3. The politician was not particularly ................. about the matter. (discrete/discreet)

4. He refused to pay his ................... rates. (council/counsel)

5. I like most vegetables, but I loathe spinach and brussel sprouts. (loath/loathe)

6. They agreed in ............... to the suggestion. (principal/principle)

7. I will ............... your letter to the chairman. (forward/foreword)

8. This wine would be a wonderful ............... to any meal. (compliment/complement)

9. To mark this ............ occasion, the Queen will give a speech. (historical/historic)

10. It’s a .................. issue, and I will not discuss it in public. (personnel/personal)

11. The newspaper article included an .................. to the PM’s scandalous past. (illusion/allusion)

12. The ................ should be written by an expert in the field. (forward/foreword)

13. Our project is divided into .................. parts. (discrete/discreet)

14. The .................. will be reworked before filming begins. (scrip/script)

15.  My music teacher told me to practise my ...................... (cords/chords)

16. This is the .......... for my thousand shares in Telstra. (script/scrip)

17. These documents are of ...................... interest. (historical/historic)

18. She will ................. the student before making any recommendations. (council/counsel)

19. It wasn’t real; it was all just an ................... (allusion/illusion)

20. Poor Bill had an .................. reaction to the flu injection. (averse/adverse)

21. He paid her an unexpected .................... (compliment/complement)

22. The school ................. spoke to the parents. (principle/principal)

23. I’m .............. to give him any more money; he will just waste it. (loathe/loath)

24. The child pulled out the telephone .............. (chord/cord)

Exercise 2. Choose the correct spelling in the following sentences

1. Please let me know if (there/their) are any reports left to edit.
2. Please wait (there/their) for your orders.
3. (They’re/their) efforts to address the inconsistencies went unnoticed.
4. She was the harder worker (of/off) the (to/two)
5. The lecturer went (of/off) to teach in Dubai.
6. They should (of/have) known better.
7. The exam was (to/too/two) difficult for the new students.
8. The students were (to/too/two) nervous to read the questions carefully.
9. She went (to/two/too) close the door and stood (too/to/two) close to the dog.
10. Most students know when (its/it’s) time to hand up their assignments.
11. The leopard cannot change (its/it’s) spots.
12. The dog knew (its/it’s) (master’s/masters) voice.
13. The group is not hungry because (it’s/its) had (its/it’s) lunch.
14. We all need to (accept/except) the things we can’t change.
15. I give all students feedback (accept/except) the (ones/one’s) who won’t (accept/except) it.
16.  Can we get your (advise/advice) on how to proceed with the proposal?
17.  The manager will be able to (advice/advise) us on which strategy is best.
18.  The CEO and the general manager (compliment/complement) each other in their approach to staff management.
19.  The guests were full of (compliments/complements) for their host.
20.  He reported the incident to the head of (personal/personnel).
21.   I agree with you in (principal/principle).
22.  The (principal/principle) feature of the building is its large staircase.
23.  Do you know (where/were) we are supposed to leave our assignments.
24.  This (semesters/semester’s) exams (were/where) very hard.