Touched by an Editor
Yet another answer to our perpetual question: what can an editor do for you?
Consider the following copy, the first line in a client alert:
The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this month in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com that a website that specializes in matching renters with those with rooms to rent violated the Fair Housing Act and California housing laws by requiring users to input information about their sex, sexual orientation, and whether children would be brought into the house.
There’s a least a few things an editor would do with this. First of all, users would be gone, and renters would simply be called renters. Why? Because, without that, it’s not entirely clear that they’re one and the same.
The phrase requiring users to input information would be abbreviated. In general, phrases that can be abbreviated do get abbreviated, for the reader’s sake. If you can say something in fewer words, and you want to impress your readers, then use fewer words.
Next, the house would be gone. Why? Because rooms to rent aren’t all in houses. Some are in apartment buildings and condos. Some aren’t rooms at all.
An editor might revise that first line like so:
The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this month in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com that a website that specializes in matching renters with those with rooms to rent violated the Fair Housing Act and California housing laws by requiring renters to disclose their sex, their sexual orientation, and whether children live with them.
As always, the advantage goes to the author. She looks better.
And that’s what editors do. They make others look better.
