To be immoral means that you don’t conform to accepted standards of morality.
Something is amoral when it is not concerned with morality.
So nature red in tooth and claw is amoral; it has nothing to do with any moral standards. But stealing is immoral (in a culture where it’s wrong to steal)
For more troublesome pairs, go to the category cloud to your right, or click here.
I was asked to differentiate this one by a friend who sent me a lovely long list of troublesome pairs. But this is a simple one: either will do!
“Spelt” is the past tense / past participle of “spell”. So is “spelled”. Apparently, “spelt” is more usually found in British English.
So there you go!
For more troublesome pairs, click to the right in the category cloud or click here.
As well as copy-editing, I also do copy-writing. Not every copy-editor is a copy-writer, and not every copy-writer is a copy-editor, but I’ve had plenty of experience doing both.
Copy-writing involves writing content, whether it’s for an article, a blog, a website, marketing materials or a press release; for print or online. Most of the copy-writing I do involves websites and marketing materials. I work with web designers who might have a client in any kind of industry, who wants a set of web pages but uses professionals to a) design the actual look and functionality of the pages and b) write the content for them. Some web developers are happy doing both; some recognise that they need to contract out the writing, whether because that’s not their forté or because they don’t have time to do both.
When I’m writing for a website, I do need certain information: I can create something out of nothing, but it’s hard to fulfil the client’s requirements if I don’t know what they are – I’m a good writer, but I’m not psychic! So I like to send the client and web designer a little questionnaire, to establish points like:
– how many pages the website has and their titles (so I know which different sections I need to write for)
– basic information about the client – if I can have some of their existing marketing materials or a previous website, that’s really useful
– an idea of the kind of style they are looking for – serious, sales-orientated, enthusiastic, calm, funny …
– an idea of how much information they are looking for for each page – how many words
I then sit down with a list of headings and all the information to hand and write – I usually do this in Word or Notepad so I can pop it through to the web designer in a useful format.
Then it’ll go to the web designer and the client to have a look at – the web designer will put it into the design they’ve already made and the client will have a look at it. There’ll usually be a bit of feedback and I might have a chat with the client direct, and then I’ll make the necessary tweaks.
For example: I worked on a website for a motivational speaker recently. I worked from his current website and some brochures and an autobiographical feature he’d written. Once I’d got some bits and pieces together we had a chat on the phone about the tone of the website, and I subsequently changed the focus a little bit and clarified various points – and there we were!
If I’m working on marketing materials or a press release for a client, it’ll work in a similar way – I’ll need something to base it on and then I’ll go from there, with plenty of feedback from the client as needed.
Some people worry that anything I write for them will be in “my” style, where they want it to reflect their style and personality. But a good copy-writer is able to be something of a chameleon, adapting their style to the matter, and client, at hand. I enjoy the challenge of doing this, and it helps with my copy-editing work, too, where it’s important to retain the client’s voice rather than imposing my own.
If you’re a busy Virtual Assistant (VA) you know that there are some jobs you need to give that personal touch … but others that are more routine and can be outsourced. If you’re designing websites, often the design and functionality is your forté and you could outsource the copy writing, either because it frees up some of your time, or because it’s not your speciality.
I provide all sorts of services, from copy writing through to copyediting, proofreading, transcription and copy typing. Here are some ideas for projects I could help you with.
For VAs:
For website designers:
I don’t need to contact your clients direct; I’m happy to work through you. And my standard agreement means there’s no worry about me “poaching” your customers – I’m more than happy to work with you long term to satisfy your clients’ needs. You won’t be employing me, simply outsourcing some of your work; I’ll invoice you an agreed amount per hour and you can invoice your clients whatever you want to!
Talk to me today about outsourcing some of that routine work and getting on with the things that you do best, and that differentiate you from other VAs and web designers.
Have a look at what a copyeditor and proofreader does; see references from my satisfied clients.
Contact me via email or via my contact form.
I’m considering writing and publishing a short book on how I managed to lower my cholesterol levels through diet and exercise, spelling out exactly how I did it, and how it might be possible for other people to do it too. I am not planning on making any grandiose claims for being able to solve people’s problems, and I’m certainly advocating a happy and food-filled existence. I will make sure I add caveats for those who have very high levels and other issues, etc., etc. I’ll make sure I present properly researched medical facts as well as my own experience.
I’m planning to use my new Kindle publishing skills to publish it for Kindle and make it available via Amazon.
What I need to know is – would you buy this (for yourselves or someone you know). And if you’d buy it, how much would you be willing to pay?
Thanks for your help!
This is an easy one with an interesting explanation.
Would have is correct.
Would of is not correct.
However, “would of” has crept into the language because when “would have” is abbreviated to “would’ve”, and spoken out loud, it sounds like “would of”.
“She would have gone out, but she didn’t have anything to wear.”
“She would’ve gone out, but she didn’t have anything to wear.”
This works throughout the range of words – “might have”, “would have”, “should have”, etc.
For more troublesome pairs, choose the category from the cloud over to your right, or click here.
When most people think of “proofreading”, they are actually thinking of copyediting, which I’ve discussed in a previous post.
Proof-reading is, officially, checking proofs of a publication just before they are published. So when I’m proofreading, I’m effectively looking for different things to when I’m copyediting. For a start, the document is often different – for example, when I’m working on a magazine or book, the text I copyedit is usually presented to me in a word processing programme like Word, whereas the proofs come in pdf format. That’s because that’s how, essentially, they will go to the printer, so they represent the final, finished form of the book or magazine.
All of the grammatical, punctuation and spelling stuff should have already been covered by the copyeditor, and the facts checked by the copyeditor, editor, author or fact-checker (whether or not I’m one of these people in the project too). What I’m now looking for is inconsistencies and errors in how the text and the surrounding “business” appears on the page. So I’ll check for …
for books and magazines:
– page numbers being sequential and starting at the right point
– pictures having captions and the captions describing the correct picture
– widows and orphans – individual words or lines which get left alone on either the previous page to the main text (e.g. if a paragraph starts at the bottom of the page or, worse, there’s a short phrase introducing a quotation or the beginning of a text box) or the page afterwards (the last few words of a paragraph or text box, for example)
– changes in font size that weren’t intentional
– the contents page or list matches what’s there in the publication
for books in particular:
– the running headers being correct, i.e. one has the publication name and the other has the chapter title (for the correct chapter)
– chapters all starting on a right-hand page as you hold the book open
– all extra material (bibliographies, index … ) included and in the right order
As it’s in pdf format at this point, I’ll use my software to annotate the pdf and then send it back to the client. Sometimes I’ll get a second look at it once these corrections have been made.
And that’s what a proofreader does.
This should be a popular one as it’s a very common set of mix-ups (and I know it’s not a pair, but a trio: think of it as a Bank Holiday Bonus)
There – regarding a place. “Have you been to Wales? Yes, I’ve been there.”
Their – possessive of “they” – belonging to them “Don’t take their wellies without asking!”
They’re – less formal, abbreviated form of “they are” “Are Linda and Freddie going to be at the party? Yes, they’re going to the party!”
So, if some people are visiting a female relation who lives on the other side of the valley: “They’re visiting their aunt, who lives over there”.
That’s it, really!
For why we don’t add an apostrophe to “theirs”, see my article on the apostrophe.
For more troublesome pairs, have a look at the category cloud to your lower right, or click here!
Another potentially troublesome word pair: “lead” and “led”.
Here, we’re only talking about the sense involved in taking someone or something from one place to another, not the soft metal that’s made into roofing, the thing that connects your computer to your printer, or the thing that connects your hand to your dog …
This is quite a simple one: lead is the present tense, and led is the past tense.
So, we can differentiate thus: “lead” is used in the present, including when we’re requesting something at this moment: “Lead us not into temptation” – “Every morning, I lead the cows into the field and I still do that now”.
Contrast this with use of the past tense: “Every morning last July, I led the cows into the field, but that was in my old job and I do something different now” – “He led me into temptation”.
“I’ll lead the horse today; you led him yesterday”.
If you want to see more pairs of words, click on the “Troublesome pairs” link in the category cloud to the right of this page …
I’ve noticed that people have been finding this website and blog by searching for “what does an editor do”? So I thought a quick example or two might be in order!
What a copyeditor actually does is make sure the text the author has written doesn’t have spelling, grammar, punctuation and factual errors. When I’m copyediting a piece, I work in several different ways (according to how my client wants me to work with them):
– a Word document and “track changes” – I turn Track Changes on in Word and it shows up exactly what I do, whether it’s deleting something, moving it, or adding a word here and there. I also use the “comments” facility to highlight a word or phrase and then ask a question or offer some alternatives. When the client receives the document from me, they choose “show final markup” in Track Changes (or similar, depending on what word processor they’re using) and then go through accepting or rejecting my changes with the click of a button. I always work like this with students, so they have to decide whether to accept each change, retaining ownership and authorship over the piece of work. But some other clients like me to do this too.
– a Word document with the changes already made. This is sometimes called a “clean copy”. I make the changes I think are needed, and the client trusts that I’m right and doesn’t need me to tell them what I’ve done. I work like this with some clients from the start; some move over to this format after we’ve worked together for a while. If a client isn’t a student, I offer them one of each of these two, then they can see what I’ve done but don’t have to go through accepting each change.
– an annotated PDF. I work this way with clients whose work is already in PDF format, or when I’m copyediting web pages. I print a copy of each web page to PDF or open the PDF document, and use a dedicated application that allows me to highlight parts of the text and add call-out boxes with comments in. Clients who use this method include anyone who has a set of web pages, and, for example, magazine publishers, who send me the pages as they will look in the final magazine (check back soon for information on when this constitutes “proofreading”).
So, for an example, I’ve made up a piece of text that’s riddled with errors, and then I present my corrected copy underneath. So I don’t inadvertently plagiarise someone, I’ve used my own text from another blog post.
———
From the author:
Now I’ve got more flexibility in my time-table, I suggested to my friend Laura who also works from home (and cafes, and her office…that we add in some “co-working” time to our regular lunches. The definition of coworking has extended from its original ‘working with colleauges’ idea to include working in paralell with other people, who are probably not your direct colleagues, in a space which is probably not both of your offices. That sounds a bit muddled – it’s basicly those set of people with laptop’s sitting around a big tables in your local cafe.
So, we decided to try doing this ata local cafe, and now we decided to start writing a irregular series of reviews of local venues with free wifi in which it’s possible (or possible) to work. We’re going to work our way around Queens Heath and then possibly venture farther a field.
My corrected version:
Now I’ve got more flexibility in my timetable, I suggested to my friend Laura, who also works from home (and cafes, and her office … ) that we add in some “co-working” time to our regular lunches. The definition of co-working has extended from its original “working with colleagues” idea to include working in parallel with other people, who are probably not your direct colleagues, in a space which is probably not either of your offices. That sounds a bit muddled – it’s basically those sets of people with laptops sitting around a big table in your local cafe.
So, we decided to try doing this at a local cafe, and then we decided to start writing an irregular series of reviews of local venues with free wifi in which it’s possible (or impossible) to work. We’re going to work our way around Kings Heath and then possibly venture further afield.
———-
There are some variants: a substantive copyedit, for example, will include all of the above work, plus I’ll be looking for inconsistencies in the text as a whole: for example, a character in a biography’s name changing, or the layout of a house being inconsistent in a novel – a bit like being a continuity person for a film.
In the next few weeks, I’ll talk about what a proofreader, copy writer and transcriber does (maybe even a copy typist, too!)
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