Have you ever wondered what impression you make on potential clients when they first see anything about you, the editor? First impressions In Gauteng, a few of us were keen to find out a little more about making a good impression. We joined forces to brave the...
I still remember the first time it happened. I was standing in the foyer of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, waiting for my friends to join me. They were driving together and running late, but one was keeping me updated. Then came the WhatsApp message: ‘We just...
I’m sure we’ve all done the brainteaser where the word ‘the’ is repeated in print but when it is read out loud, invariably only one ‘the’ is read. Wordsmiths, however, being astute and wise to the ways of words, tend to notice it and triumphantly read ‘the’ twice. It...
After almost a year of freelance editing, I decided that I needed to professionalise my service offering to clients. I imagined an ideal client to be either an individual/student or a corporate client. I am full-time employed and I wanted to run my business in a way...
After studying and teaching science for 30 years, I thought I knew everything about Système International (SI) units. Turns out I didn’t. Editing has introduced me to a whole new, unsuspected realm of SI idiosyncrasies and conventions. Some fundamentals I edit science...
When I read Annamarie Mostert’s blog, I was keen to understand more about the CCC model (correspondence, consistency, correctness) and how I could use it in my work as a copy editor. After reading more in one of my resources (listed below and in Annamarie’s blog), I...
Following a meeting discussing search engine optimisation (SEO) and assisting the copy editor, a team member suggested a blog on how to write a blog. So, here it is, how to write a PEGblog while keeping in mind SEO. We’re hoping this will prompt several copy editors...
What does peace have to do with editing or PEG? I’ve been a member of PEG for seven years and have always enjoyed learning about many things. Because I strive to live a peaceful life, I was instantly interested in a free online short course advertised on Facebook by...
I signed up for a grammar course. I know my English isn’t perfect and I can edit fairly well, but I also know that if someone asked me to explain each and every edit, I wouldn’t be able to do that effectively. I cannot always label all the rules or reasons for my...
The tragic arc of author Terry Pratchett’s life is well known: a prolific and celebrated writer, he was diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s in 2007, at age 59. He carried on writing, with his final novel being published in 2015, the same year he died. What’s...
(The instructions are intended as guidelines and apply to Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2403 Build 16.0.17425.20124 64-bit) for Windows 11. Details may differ slightly for other versions.) In my first blog post, I shared my 14-step formatting...
I have written this brief piece in response to an enquiry from a respected language practitioner colleague who was asking which of the meanings of ‘skryfwyse’ the English word ‘style’ best conveys, if any at all. My starting point was Bosman, Van der Merwe and...
Then: 2007 We found this in an edition of Pegboard from as far back as 2007. These were deliberations of editors about prepositions at the end of sentences: Do your hackles rise when you spot a preposition at the end of a sentence? What does this little rhyme by...
Being a top-notch editor isn't just about red pens and grammar rules. It's about emotional intelligence, understanding our authors and making the editing journey a valuable experience for everyone involved. In the dynamic world of publishing and editing, effective...
Let’s face it. Not many of us have the privilege of editing on a full-time basis. I suppose it falls into the same category as writing, acting or dancing as a career. Such pursuits often require that we hang on to our bill-paying jobs and participate in these...
Renkema’s CCC model facilitates and evaluates the text-editing process in a systematic, standardised and accountable way. This blog briefly describes the origin, composition and usefulness of this model. (The blog was written first in Afrikaans and has been...
In this PEGblog, we explain what a compilation thesis is (often called a thesis by articles or a paper-based thesis/dissertation) and the limited nature and extent of the copy editor’s engagement with it. Compilation thesis: nature and process In Europe in particular,...
Renkema’s K3/CCC-model facilitates and evaluates the text-editing process in a systematic, standardised and accountable way. The first of our blogs written in Afrikaans, this blog briefly describes the origin, composition and usefulness of this model. Renkema se...
One of the many jobs of an editor is to be on the lookout for plagiarism. I don’t have a magic formula for spotting it, but I do have some tips that might help. First off, what is plagiarism? The dictionary definition goes like this: 'The practice of taking someone...
Professional editors are, by definition, Microsoft Word power users because we spend 90% of our time wrangling texts into submission in this specific word-processing software. But did you know that Microsoft has another free collection of utilities, apps, tools, toys...
