We use an initial lower case only in two instances after a colon: to separate two parts of a sentence (and there are exceptions) and to...
Colons: Capital or lower case afterwards?
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Abbreviations – What should I know about them?
An abbreviation is a short form used to save space in text and make it more readable. There are three other short forms: acronyms,...
Developmental Editing – What is it?
Developmental editing can occur before or during the production of a publishable manuscript. Beforehand, It helps clients choose a topic,...
COLLECTIVE NOUNS: To ess or not to ess?
Collective nouns and the nouns they describe can be either singular or plural. Plural collectives describing singular nouns The words in...
NOUN-VERB AGREEMENT – What are the rules?
Singular subjects must have singular verbs, and plural subjects must have plural verbs. A singular subject + of + a plural object . What...
PEG Full Membership – How do I apply?
To apply for Full Membership, please contact Ricky Woods (rickwoods604@gmail.com). The requirements are listed here.
Scientific formulae – What are the styles?
Here are a few links: https://www.keynotesupport.com/internet/special-characters-math-currency.shtml...
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY: What does PEG think?
Diversity refers to the characteristics, experiences, and other distinctions that make one person different from another: race, ethnicity,...
Worldbuilding: What is it and what does it mean for editors?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines worldbuilding as: The creation of a fictional world (especially within the science fiction and...
PEG’s 30th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE 2023 – What was it about?
PEG'S 30th Anniversary Conference was held from the afternoon of 31 May to the evening of 1 June 2023. Click here to read more and to see...
THE Definite Article – Do I use it before the names of departments and countries?
The question A PEG member asked the PEGforum*: When does one add the definite article to 'National Treasury'? I see it used with and...
CODES AND ETHICS – What does PEG say?
The Professional Editors' Guild has a high standard of ethics and codes of conduct. Code of Conduct, March 2021 Constitution, amended June...
STYLE GUIDES AND STYLE SHEETS – What is the difference?
House style guides give pointers on general stylistic preferences: font and font size, margin sizes, colours, dictionary, not using...
Egroups – What are the PEG egroups and how can I join them?
The {PEG Official} egroup is the official mailing list, where you will receive event invitations, PEG news, job listings and official...
PerfectIt – What is it and why should editors use it?
PerfectIt is a customisable software program offered by Intelligent Editing to check many kinds of consistency: spelling, abbreviations,...
Rates – How much should I charge?
What you charge depends on what type of editing or proofreading service you are offering and how much your client is willing to pay. The...
Accreditation – What does it mean for PEG members?
Accreditation enables PEG members to advertise their level of competence to clients, it boosts their self-confidence, and enables them to...
Continued Professional Development (CPD) – What does it mean for PEG members?
It is important – and in their best interests – for members to keep up to date with editing trends. There are always new things to learn...
PEG Signatures – When and how are they available?
When you have been a member of PEG for a minimum of one year, you can apply to our Publications Coordinator, Alison Downie...
Computer Software – What version of Microsoft Office should I buy?
If you have a very old laptop, with an old operating system and drivers you haven't updated in forever, don't bother with Office 2021:...
Computer Hardware – What does an editor need?
You need at least: an I5 processor (I7 if your budget can swing it), 16 to 32 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB SSD hard drive (but bigger is...
Figures of Speech – illustrated
An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel. Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses...
PARTS OF SPEECH – Illustrated
Every name is called a NOUN, like field and fountain, street and town. In place of noun the PRONOUN stands like he and she can clap their...
Table of Contents – How do I make a paragraph appear like a heading in the TOC?
Put your cursor anywhere in the paragraph you want to show in the Table of Contents. Go to Home > Paragraph > dialog box launcher...
TABLE OF CONTENTS – How do I stop a heading appearing?
1. Put your cursor anywhere in the text version of the heading you do not want to show in the Table of Contents. 2. Go to Home >...
PEG MEMBERSHIP – What kind of editor do I need?
PEG has a number of membership categories. Accredited Text Editors (ATEs) Associate members Full members Student members First-time...
ACCREDITED EDITORS – What are they and why should I use one?
PEG Accredited Text Editors (ATEs) are PEG members who have passed PEG’s accreditation test with a mark of 80% or higher. These members...
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE – What are they and when do I use them?
‘Voice’ expresses whether the subject in a sentence acts (active voice) or is acted on (passive voice). Active voice is more direct and...
Anonymity – How do I stop my name showing when I am editing?
Sometimes you want Word's document properties and Track Changes not to disclose your name. Here's how to remain anonymous and just be...
ARTICLES – What are they in English and how do I use them?
English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or...
AS AND BECAUSE – What is the difference?
Because means “for the reason that”. As has several different meanings. To avoid ambiguity, use because if you are talking about why...
AS WELL AS – Does it mean the same as AND?
As well as does not mean and. Only use it before an item that is different from the other items in the list, e.g., He bought milk and...
Captions – What are the conventions?
There are any number of conventions for figure and table captions but here are some suggestions: First and foremost, table captions must...
COMMAS AFTER INTRODUCTORY PHRASES – Are they necessary?
An introductory phrase sets the stage for the main part of the sentence: After the meeting was over, he was exhausted. While she was...
Commas with Conjunctions – When should I use them?
There are two types of conjunction: coordinating conjunctions (or paratactic conjunctions) and subordinating conjunctions (or hypotactic...
Compound Nouns – What are they and do I pluralise them?
A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more existing words. Examples are: billiard table bread and butter cat food five-pound note...
CONSISTENT TERMINOLOGY – Should I use different words for variety?
Not always. Once you start to use a noun, keep using it for consistency – avoid ‘thesaurus syndrome’ (firm, company, organisation,...
LANGUAGE EDITORS – What are they and what do they do?
A language editor (copy editor) is someone who has the skill and expertise to make a piece of writing easy to read and clear in meaning....
ORDER IN LISTS – How and why should I order lists?
Try to put all lists into some sort of order – alphabetical (ABC), numerical (123) or chronological (by date). Alphabetical order is...
Oxford Dictionaries – How do I log in?
Look up the username and password under Resources > Affiliates > International (righthand column) > Oxford Dictionaries. Click on...
PARALLEL LISTS – What are they?
Parallelism requires you to use the same grammatical form in all the items of a list –- they should either all start with verbs or they...
PDF Conversion Software – What should I know?
Sometimes you need to convert a PDF onto editable text. Microsoft Word often opens PDFs as editable Word documents PDF-XChange Editor...
PEG MEMBERSHIP – What kind of member could I be?
PEG has a number of membership categories. Accredited Text Editors (ATEs) Associate members Full members Student members First-time...
PEG REGISTRATION – What is the process?
Please click here to view the PEG Website Registration Process document. The document will open in a new tab on your browser. From here...
PROOFREADING OR COPY-EDITING – What is the difference?
Copy-editing is the process of working on the author’s original text (in final draft) to make sure it reads well, makes sense and has no...
SECONDARY SOURCES – How should I do cite indirect sources?
Secondary sources are documents that you did not read yourself but that were referred to in documents that you did read and that are in...
SERIAL COMMAS – What are they and when do I use them?
A comma before the "and" at the end of a list is known as a serial comma or Oxford comma. Commas are used to separate each item in a list...
SINGULAR “THEY” – Do I have to use it?
In the olden days, it was accepted that references to he/his/him included women as well as men. Then we starting being expected to include...
SPACE BEFORE OR AFTER THE DEGREE SIGN – Should there be one?
Usually a number and its unit have a space between them; for example, 100 km. The unit sign for 100 degrees Centigrade (100 °C) is written...
SPACE BEFORE THE PERCENT SIGN – Should there be one?
Usually a number and its unit have a space between them; for example, 100 km. A number expressed as a percentage is usually not written...