Diploma in Proofreading and Copy Editing

You're a writer. 
So do what you’re best at.

Become a Proofreader and Copy Editor

From Kit Sadgrove
Course Director

Hello,

Thanks for stopping by. I want to ask you three questions:

1. Do you wince when you see errors such as ‘We except credit cards’, when they mean ‘accept’?
2. Do you notice grocers’ English on shop blackboards? Phrases like “You’ll love our fresh cabbage’s.”
3. And would you like to sharpen your own writing before sending it to a publisher?

If you answered ‘Yes’, you should think seriously about becoming a copy editor and proofreader. It’s the natural role for you.

Writers need you

As a proofreader you protect writers from their own shortcomings and faults.

Proofreading suits someone like you, if you’re the perfectionist who experiences an intake of breath when you see a misused word.

And there is much correcting to be done. Authors make blunders all the time.

• They write ‘To affect change’ when they mean ‘To effect change’.
• People write ‘Your in charge’, when they mean ‘You’re in charge’.
• They write ‘Less oranges’ when they should say ‘fewer oranges.’

There are traps everywhere. Sometimes, it gets really tricky:

Is it organized or organised? Well, it depends on which country you’re in (Americans used the ‘Z’ form, while Brits use the ‘S’ one.)

• Can you end a sentence with a preposition, as in: ‘Things we shouldn’t talk about’? Yes, you can do that. There’s no rule against it. It’s always best to sound natural rather than pompous. It would sound odd to write ‘Things about which we shouldn’t speak’.
• On the other hand, if you can get rid of a preposition at the end of a sentence, without affecting the meaning, you should. “Where do you live at?” has an unnecessary preposition at the end. It is better to write “Where do you live?”
• Can you split an infinitive? Such as ‘To boldly go’. Yes, you can say that.

If you’re concerned about these problems, then proofreading is for you.

Everyone else has left the room, saying, ‘I don’t care enough to read any more’.

Which is OK, because proofreading and copyediting is a specialised subject. It isn’t for everyone.