Professional Editorial Standards: C. Standards for Stylistic Editing

Stylistic editing is editing to clarify meaning, ensure coherence and flow at the paragraph and sentence level, and refine the language. Stylistic editing is often done as part of a structural edit or copy edit rather than as a separate step.

Editors should verify expectations before beginning a project or task.

Stylistic editing is also known as language editing. Line editing is often understood to be a combination of stylistic editing and copy editing.

A professional stylistic editor meets the Standards in Part A: The Fundamentals of Editing and meets the following Standards.

C1      Clarity

In improving a sentence, paragraph or passage, change only what is required. As appropriate, do the following:

C1.1        Improve paragraph construction to convey meaning more effectively (e.g., adjust paragraph length for the audience and medium, establish clear topic sentences).

C1.2        Improve sentence construction to convey meaning more effectively (e.g., use subordinate structures for subordinate ideas, gauge which situations would benefit from active voice or passive voice, make nonparallel constructions parallel).

C1.3        Refine wording to convey meaning more effectively (e.g., replace noun strings, nominalizations and inappropriate euphemisms).

C1.4        Resolve ambiguity (e.g., misplaced modifiers).

C1.5        Revise sentences, paragraphs and passages to ensure logical connections.

C1.6        Ensure all supplementary text (e.g., captions, footnotes, annotations, endnotes, prefaces) is clear and effectively conveys the intended meaning.

C1.7        Verify that all visual elements (e.g., illustrations, tables, infographics) are clear and effectively convey the intended meaning.

C1.8        Ensure audio and visual components are appropriate given the context.

C1.9        Verify that titles, headings and subheadings are effectively positioned and presented for the audience. Check for any other needs, such as search engine optimization.

C2      Coherence and flow

C2.1        Ensure that transitions between sentences and between paragraphs are smooth and effective.

C2.2        Where necessary, reorder elements to ensure coherence and parallelism (e.g., sentences in a paragraph, bullet points in a list).

C3      Language

C3.1        Ensure that the voice, style, point of view, tone and register are presented consistently and in keeping with the content and the author’s goals and intentions.

C3.2        Eliminate wordiness (e.g., by deleting redundancies, empty phrases, unnecessary modifiers) in the interest of clarity.

C3.3        Improve language (e.g., eliminate clichés, replace negative constructions with affirmative ones).

C4      Conscious language

C4.1        Where appropriate, point out words and phrasing that can be considered harmful, either intentionally or unintentionally, and suggest alternatives.

C4.2        Understand the author’s intentions when editing language so that it does not inadvertently offend intended readers. Consider whether the language might be harmful to unintended audiences that it will likely reach.

C5      Stylistic editing of narratives

Editing narratives requires a specific approach to stylistic editing, but the following Standards apply to almost any type of fiction or nonfiction narrative.

C5.1        Help make the text more engaging and entertaining, and ensure there are no boring passages.

C5.2.      Check that the text achieves the intended effect on the audience (e.g., try to ensure that the humour is funny, the erotica is arousing, the frightening passages are spine-chilling). Be aware of the cultural differences that can make it difficult to target this kind of editing for specific audiences.

C5.3        Check that the mood of the writing matches the mood of the content (e.g., a funeral scene shouldn’t usually be written flippantly).

C5.4        Check that the mechanics of the writing match the content (e.g., a calm description of recumbent sheep in a field can be written in long sentences and paragraphs, but an exciting fight scene should move quickly by using short sentences and paragraphs and common words).

C6      Stylistic editing in plain language

C6.1        When applying plain language principles in stylistic editing, do the following:

1. As much as possible, use the intended readers’ vocabulary.
2. Prefer concrete terms to abstract terms (e.g., frog instead of amphibian).
3. Use only the same words for the same meaning, and different words for different meanings.
4. Use language that is culturally relevant for the readers.
5. Address ambiguity.

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