Editing Made Easy Simple Rules for Effective Writing

by Kaplan, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9780942679366
• ISBN10: 0942679369
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-15
• Publisher: Upper Access, Inc.

Summary

An earlier version ofEditing Made Easy, published in Bruce Kaplan's native Australia, has become a best-selling resource for writers in much or the English-speaking world. Because of the different spellings and conventions of American English, it has been unavailable here--until now. The new book is thoroughly revised, updated, expanded, and Americanized. It maintains the attractions of the original--friendly, easy-to-understand rules for improved writing. It's a quick read, and an easy reference for anybody who wants to communicate clearly with American English. The book is non-technical in its approach. It doesn't cover grammatical terms such aspresent perfect progressiveorcorrelative conjunctions. It boils grammar and style into a few simple rules that will serve you well whether you are a journalist, a student, a novelist, a business executive, a blogger, or anybody else who would like to make effective use of written language.

Author Biography

Bruce Kaplan is a newspaper copy editor and editorial trainer with international experience spanning more than 40 years. He has held senior positions with major publications in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. He trains editors and writers for newspapers and magazines, and tutors at writers' centers and tertiary education institutions. He may be reached at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Author's note	p. ix
Why learn editing? the benefits for you	p. 11
Lean and clean: what editors do	p. 12
The golden rules: for professional writing and editing	p. 15
Ruthless people: what makes a good editor?	p. 16
Be active: avoiding the passive voice	p. 18
Split personalities: beware the split infinitive	p. 22
Time for action: turning nouns into verbs	p. 25
Small and pesky: two words that slow the pace	p. 29
Nuisance value: more overused words	p. 32
Is that so? how to avoid that	p. 35
Every which way: the difference between which and that	p. 37
Short is beautiful: avoid long sentences	p. 40
Briefly speaking: a guide to shorter, simpler words	p. 43
Pronouns: how to avoid confusion	p. 52
Feeling single, seeing plural: more tricky pronouns	p. 55
Collective nouns: which verb form do I use?	p. 57
Clichés: avoid them like the plague	p. 60
The future that is to come: the tautology trap	p. 63
Stating the obvious: first cousin to the tautology	p. 65
There, there: a few little words we can do without	p. 67
Putting on the style: be consistent	p. 69
Punctuation: basic rules	p. 72
Contractions: when, and when not, to use them	p. 82
To quote or not to quote: direct and indirect speech	p. 83
Tricky, tricky: serial or cereal?	p. 85
The plurals trap: don't get caught	p. 88
Under a spell: a handy guide to difficult words	p. 90
Oops: the misplaced phrase	p. 91
If only: be careful to say what you mean	p. 92
Now, see here: look out for this common error	p. 94
Kid stuff: avoid slang	p. 95
Former, latter, last: how to keep order	p. 96
Get to the point: how to write a news story	p. 97
Heads, you win: how to write a headline	p. 99
Editing checklist: a last round-up	p. 103
Hot tips: things to remember	p. 105
And finally: set your standards high	p. 107
Resources: things to keep handy	p. 108
Index	p. 110
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