A Word, Please: One objective of copy editing is precision

They say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And though I don’t know who “they” are, I can guarantee that they’re not copy editors.

A big part of my job is fixing errors that aren’t really errors.

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Imagine, for example, I have to copy-edit an article containing this sentence: “Having already missed two mortgage payments, Jane asked her mother if she could loan her some money.”

That word “loan” wouldn’t survive my red pen. I’d change it to “lend.” I’d make the change not because “loan” is wrong but because, as a verb, “lend” is preferred in editing circles, reserving “loan” for use as a noun: “She asked her mother for a loan.”

See if you can spot the editor-unworthy word in this sentence: “Brian’s house was a half mile further away than they had anticipated.”

According to dictionaries, “further” can sometimes switch roles with “farther.” But editing style is strict on this point: “‘Farther’ refers to physical distance,” the Associated Press Stylebook tells everyone writing in that style. “‘Further’ refers to an extension of time or degree. ‘She will look further into the mystery.’”

“While” is one of my favorite targets. Consider the sentence “While attending an Ivy League college can help students make valuable business contacts, not everyone can get into Harvard or Princeton.”

That use of “while” is just fine, say dictionaries. But it’s not good enough for exacting publishers, who tend to prefer the most precise, least ambiguous word available. This “while” could at first be construed to mean “during the time that” instead of “although.” Copy editors like me prefer to eliminate all potential for confusion, so we just change it to “although” or “though.”

“Towards” is unpopular in publishing. Even though it’s acceptable in general usage, we copy editors change it to “toward.”

And here’s another spot-the-fussy-fix sentence: “The defendant, charged with driving under the influence, pled no contest.” That use of “pled” is acceptable, but it wouldn’t survive a pass over my desk. Instead, I’d change it to “pleaded” because that’s the preferred past tense in most dictionaries.

The word “like” has many definitions, including one as a conjunction, as in the famous example “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” But traditionally, “like” hasn’t been well received in the conjunction club. So a lot of us copy editors replace it with the more widely accepted conjunction “as.”

The word “insure” often refers to a policy you purchase from an insurance company. Dictionaries also define it as “to make certain, especially by taking necessary measures and precautions.” In other words, it can mean “ensure.” But not on my watch. In editing, we give these homophones distinct and separate jobs.

In the sentence, “I can’t wait ‘til Christmas,” the preposition “until” is contracted, replacing its first two letters with an apostrophe. The rules of punctuation give users great liberty to form contractions. You can often drop letters you don’t want to use and put an apostrophe in their place.

Professional editing takes a different view. The word “till” is not only a synonym of “until,” it’s actually the original form: In the meaning “up to (a particular time),” it predates “until.” (And before you write me to say that “till” can only mean something you do to soil or a drawer where you keep money, please read its full definition in a dictionary or two.)

If I were to read that a person looking forward to the holidays was “anxiously awaiting Christmas morning,” I would change that to “eagerly awaiting.” Though “anxious” can mean “eager,” it has a negative connotation that just doesn’t capture the wide-eyed wonder of a child heading off to bed on Christmas Eve.

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JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of “The Best Punctuation Book, Period.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.