Re: what to look for in a Tech Editor

Subject: Re: what to look for in a Tech Editor
From: "Janice Gelb" <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 11:33:20 -0600


David Brown <dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Not at all--you can be a great tech writer without knowing any of that stuff. To be a good writer, you need to be able to *use* the parts of speech and the tenses correctly.
>
> The question was about being a technical *editor*, and for that you really should know the *names* of the parts of speech and the *names* of the tenses.
>
> You *can* be a technical editor without that knowledge, but its absence will affect your credibility with your managers, your fellow editors, and (most important) the writers whose work you edit.
>
> Speaking from experience, here...
>

To add another data point, my experience has been that
using the names of the parts of speech and tenses is
usually not as effective as showing a writer in simple
language or by example why a correction makes the sentence
better. This thread has illustrated the fact that many people
have not had the benefit of rigorous grammar training so
providing the names is probably over the heads of many
writers anyway. It might even have the negative effect of
reinforcing negative stereotypes about editors.

-- Janice

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