The Copyeditor’s Handbook

The new, updated edition of the handbook that should be on every copyeditor’s desk.

Unstuffy, hip, and often funny, The Copyeditor’s Handbook has become an indispensable resource both for new editors and for experienced hands who want to refresh their skills and broaden their understanding of the craft of copyediting. This fourth edition incorporates the latest advice from language authorities, usage guides, and new editions of major style manuals, includingThe Chicago Manual of Style. It registers the tectonic shifts in twenty-first-century copyediting: preparing text for digital formats, using new technologies, addressing global audiences, complying with plain language mandates, ensuring accessibility, and serving self-publishing authors and authors writing in English as a second language. The new edition also adds an extensive annotated list of editorial tools and references and includes a bit of light entertainment for language lovers, such as a brief history of punctuation marks that didn’t make the grade, the strange case ofrazbliuto, and a few Easter eggs awaiting discovery by keen-eyed readers.

The fourth edition features updates on

• the transformation of editorial roles in today’s publishing environment
• new applications, processes, and protocols for on-screen editing
• major changes in editorial resources, such as online dictionaries and language corpora, new grammar and usage authorities, online editorial communities, and web-based research tools

When you’re ready to test your mettle, pick up The Copyeditor’s Workbook: Exercises and Tips for Honing Your Editorial Judgment, the essential new companion to the handbook.

The new, updated edition of the handbook that should be on every copyeditor’s desk.

Unstuffy, hip, and often funny, The Copyeditor’s Handbook has become an indispensable resource both for new editors and for experienced hands who want to refresh their skills and broaden their understanding of the craft of copyediting. This fourth edition incorporates the latest advice from language authorities, usage guides, and new editions of major style manuals, includingThe Chicago Manual of Style. It registers the tectonic shifts in twenty-first-century copyediting: preparing text for digital formats, using new technologies, addressing global audiences, complying with plain language mandates, ensuring accessibility, and serving self-publishing authors and authors writing in English as a second language. The new edition also adds an extensive annotated list of editorial tools and references and includes a bit of light entertainment for language lovers, such as a brief history of punctuation marks that didn’t make the grade, the strange case ofrazbliuto, and a few Easter eggs awaiting discovery by keen-eyed readers.

The fourth edition features updates on

• the transformation of editorial roles in today’s publishing environment
• new applications, processes, and protocols for on-screen editing
• major changes in editorial resources, such as online dictionaries and language corpora, new grammar and usage authorities, online editorial communities, and web-based research tools

When you’re ready to test your mettle, pick up The Copyeditor’s Workbook: Exercises and Tips for Honing Your Editorial Judgment, the essential new companion to the handbook.

Preface to the Fourth Edition, by Marilyn Schwartz
Preface to the Third Edition, by Amy Einsohn
Abbreviations and Conventions

PART 1. THE ABC's OF COPYEDITING

1. WHAT COPYEDITORS DO
Principal Tasks
Levels of Copyediting
The Editorial Process
Editorial Triage
Estimates
One Paragraph, Three Ways
Professionalism and Ethics

2. BASIC PROCEDURES
Skill Sets
Marking Changes on Hard Copy
Making Changes On-Screen
Querying
Style Sheets
Informal Communications and Transmittal Letters
Author Review and Manuscript Cleanup

3. REFERENCE BOOKS AND RESOURCES
Four Essential Books
Language Corpora
On the Bookshelf
Websites, Email Lists, Discussion Boards, and Blogs

PART 2. EDITORIAL STYLE

4. PUNCTUATION
Conventions, Fashions, and Style
Function 1: Terminal Punctuation
Function 2: Joining Clauses
Function 3: Setting Off Phrases
Function 4: Indicating Omission
Mark-by-Mark Pitfalls
Multiple Punctuation
Eyeballing Every Mark
Controversial Techniques

5. SPELLING AND HYPHENATION
Improving Your Spelling Skills
Variant Spellings
British Spelling
Homophones
Foreign Words and Phrases
Proper Nouns and Adjectives
Plurals
Possessives
One Word or Two?
Spell-Checkers

6. CAPITALIZATION AND THE TREATMENT OF NAMES
Personal Names and Titles
Astronomical Terms and Geographical Names
Racial and Ethnic Groups
Names of Institutions and Companies, Trademarks, and Brand Names

7. NUMBERS AND NUMERALS
Words or Numerals?
Punctuation of Numerals
Cardinals and Ordinals
Fractions
Percentages, Percentage Points, Basis Points, Percentiles, and Portions
Money
Time
Street Numbers and Phone Numbers
Units of Measurement
Roman Numerals
Inclusive Numerals
Mathematical Signs and Symbols
Ambiguous Numerical Statements
Style Sheet Entries

8. QUOTATIONS
Misspellings in the Source Document
Odd Wording in the Source Document
Run-in and Set-off Quotations
Editing a Pull Quote
Punctuation of Quotations
Syntactical Fit
Ellipsis Points
Brackets
Citing Sources

9. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
Abbreviations
Symbols and Signs

10. TABLES, GRAPHS, AND ART
Tables
Graphs
Art
Use of "Alt Text"

11. REFERENCES
Author-Date System
Reference Note System
Citation-Sequence System
Citation of Digital Sources

12. FRONT MATTER, BACK MATTER, AND RUNNING HEADS
Front Matter
Back Matter
Running Heads (and Running Feet)

13. MARKUP
Markup of Hard Copy
Markup On-Screen
Heads and Subheads
Lists
Design Specs

PART 3. LANGUAGE EDITING

14. GRAMMAR AND USAGE: PRINCIPLES AND PITFALLS
Whose Grammar?
Subject-Verb Agreement
Troublesome Verbs
Split Infinitives
Subjective Mood
Dangling Participles
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
Garden-Path Sentences
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Case of Nouns and Pronouns
Parallel Form
More Muddled Syntax
Adjectives and Adverbs
Prepositions
Miscellaneous Bugaboos

15. BEYOND GRAMMAR
Organization
Point of View
Expository Style
Plain Language Compliance
Accessibility
Global English
EFL and ESL Editing
Bias-Free Language
Publishing Law

Checklist of Editorial Preferences
Glossary of Copyediting Terms
Selected Bibliography
Index