This is a basic exposition of a new method of teaching the English language, evolved over a period of at least 25 years. So there’s a personal story behind this, which I’m presenting first (Part 1), to give you the gist of it. But then, there’s also the technical side to it, which is what makes this method authentic, practically relatable, and reproduceable. These technical aspects—which help one to arrive at the same conclusions reached by a grammatical/linguistic approach—are the ones that make it an acceptable and refreshingly new method for teaching the English language. The ..read more

I received a complimentary copy of Vivek Kumar's Discover the Editor in You—Copyediting as a Career just two days ago. I had written a chapter for the book. For several personal and unrelated reasons, I’d never thought seriously about the book in the last two years. I didn’t think much of it even when editors posted pictures, holding their own copies of it, except perhaps to smile at the joy that each one expressed. But holding the same book in my hand and flipping through it suddenly brought in waves and waves of memories, some dating back to the turn of the century. In the early years o ..read more

Note This is a piece written by Vandana Bhasin of Gurugram, who took up The Art of Copyediting's Foundational Skills for Employability and Earning training and mentoring program in November 2022.    The Foundational Skills for Employability and Earning (FSEE) program by The Art of Copyediting is a comprehensive startup kit for anyone keen on pursuing a career as a copyeditor. I believe that any study program must be assessed on three facets: Content and structure of the program Availability of resources and references Knowledge, experience and communication skil ..read more

  Not many people have a clear sense of purpose in life, which, when present, goads them to learn something every day, every week, every month, every year. But for most people, learning itself does not happen on its own. It happens only when you consciously take that decision to learn. It happens only when you act—when you take the right steps to learn. There are people who have told me that they want to learn but have not taken the steps to learn even after 3–4 years. And precious time is lost in the process. The Art of Copyediting has evolved to the point of doing everything possible—lo ..read more

Summary A copyeditor in India faces almost insurmountable hurdles in learning the profession. I discuss these problems in detail and provide (a) a practical method of learning the basics via The Art of Copyediting group-learning plan (now affordable by everyone) and (b) an engaging, challenges-based plan to grow steadily in your career via The Art of Copyediting Community.    Introduction Although I have written this piece as a blog to stay on the website, this is almost a personal note to all ICF members (resident Indian members) and to potential editors in India. Having been in thi ..read more

  Note This is a piece written by Dr. Mothi Paul of Tirunelveli, who took up The Art of Copyediting's Foundational Skills for Employability and Earning training and mentoring program recently. I'm publishing it here (along with my blogs) as Dr. Paul does not yet have a website of this own.   How can one learn copyediting? Will a brushing up of grammar help me to edit efficiently? Where do I start? Is there some sequence of learning to be followed? Is there a method to this madness? Questions such as these were weighing in my mind when I switched from academia to copyediting. Ha ..read more

Summary This blog recommends a combination of standard Word shortcuts and a few basic macros (with recommended shortcut keys) to help a copyeditor navigate efficiently within a Word window and edit with a clear focus. This involves a one-time set up and may benefit both new and experienced editors. The description is for a Windows PC. You may be able to do this on a Mac (as the recommendations are pretty basic), but you may have to use the appropriate alternative keys on the Mac.   Introduction While responding to a Facebook post in one of the editorial groups, I'd mentioned that bec ..read more

I want to take this course! Many of us would have had this experience of having a college education and entering one of these professions that revolve around writing or editing—and then realizing that we're absolutely not ready to handle our work with confidence! This course, Essentials of Written English, addresses that fundamental issue, as it helps you to become ready to take up a career in writing or editing. I can tell you that I've been there, facing all the problems that people generally face. But one good thing in me was that I had an innate urge to document any problem I faced, anythi ..read more

This blog is my response to an article shared by John McIntyre on Facebook and the comments there. My first instinct was to post my reply there, but I felt that my response was long and rather personal. So I decided to put it up as a blog here on my website and provide a link to it in that discussion. You can read the Facebook post and comments here: https://www.facebook.com/jemcintyre/posts/10100916464295202 So, here’s my personal experience of Strunk and White (S&W) from the other side of the globe. I’m from India and I’ll be completing 55 by the next quarter. Initiation I stumbled on a ..read more

Copyediting outsourcing to India It was sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s that the experiment to “outsource”—the term was not common then—editorial work to India began. Typesetting had been there for some years, and it was perhaps felt that copyediting too can be done in India, if the right people could be found and trained to do the job. So some British editors came to India to train people on copyediting scholarly manuscripts in what was broadly understood as STM (science, technology, mathematics). Soon the internet came, and with it a lot more work came in to India, both from ..read more