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Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words
Think you have a way with words? Whether you're a student or a teacher, an assistant or a business executive, even a writer or an an editor, most likely your writing can be enhanced and improved.
Enter Edit Yourself, Bruce Ross-Larson's clear-cut, concise guide to grammar and the written word. In Part I, he puts you at the editor's desk, revealing the most common cuts, changes, and comparisons made for clearer, crisper, and more effective sentences. Train your eye to spot errors: be on the lookout for the better word, and more.
Part II ties it all together with more than 1.500 alphabetized recommendations, providing simple and straightforward ways to improve your writing.
Edit Yourself is an invaluable manual that belongs on the reference shelf of any one who writes, whether it's once a day or once a year.
109 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 1985
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326 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 24, 2010
Excellent resource! User friendly, very helpful. For example: it has one of the best explanations of active vs. passive voice I've seen.
December 16, 2016
Used this for years. Straight-forward and effective tool for line-editing.
July 17, 2007
I love this book -- it's the quickest reference on editing that I own. Phrases/words often used in writing are listed in an alphabetical format with suggestions on changes, comparisons, and deletions. A great tool for making editing decisions on what to avoid in writing and how to improve sentences.
August 4, 2011
Ross-Larson's book is seriously the best book on writhing that I've ever read. A must have and must read for all who writes.
February 18, 2018
Another bit of work that is so effective because of the precision with which Larson crafts his advice. He does it with such elegance.
January 30, 2021
A quick reference for editing, it covers the basics. I would read it multiple times.
November 14, 2017
I would consider this to be an essential reference for anyone into writing as a career or sideline. Unfortunately, it doesn't really lend itself to a thorough reading. The first part of the book is instructional, and provides rules and suggestions for crafting concise sentences (mostly, by way of trimming down existing, excessive sentences). I was pleasantly surprised to note that I follow pretty much all the rules. The exceptions have to do with parallel constructions, and I tend to violate those rules deliberately, as a matter of idiosyncratic style. (As a would-be author who sometimes includes multiple first-person perspectives in the same manuscript, I have to be able to develop some means of distinguishing one character's style from another, and one good approach seems to be to find rules of grammar or style that can be consistently violated by one character, and repeating the process as necessary.)
The second half of the book consists entirely of tables of words and constructions with suggestions for proper usage. It's not the kind of thing you'd actually sit down to read, which is why I completed this book in just a couple hours. I read the first half minutely, scanned the second half, and committed myself to owning a copy as soon as possible in order to keep it handy as a reference while writing.
Ross-Larson knows his stuff, and if he seems a bit stuffy in his requirements, just be aware that it's better to know the rules before you break them, so that when you do break them, it's at least by choice rather than out of ignorance.
The second half of the book consists entirely of tables of words and constructions with suggestions for proper usage. It's not the kind of thing you'd actually sit down to read, which is why I completed this book in just a couple hours. I read the first half minutely, scanned the second half, and committed myself to owning a copy as soon as possible in order to keep it handy as a reference while writing.
Ross-Larson knows his stuff, and if he seems a bit stuffy in his requirements, just be aware that it's better to know the rules before you break them, so that when you do break them, it's at least by choice rather than out of ignorance.
November 27, 2014
grammar is painful, but this wasn't so bad, i guess ...
date i finished the book: never ... it never ends!
date i finished the book: never ... it never ends!
October 15, 2021
A short guide and reference book for line editing your own work. The book is split into two parts. The first half offers a very quick overview of guidelines with an emphasis on examples. Topics include identifying superfluous words to cut, simplifying language, changing passive voice to active, and consistency.
The second half is an alphabetical reference list of words and how you might consider editing them with the occasional explanation, like the difference between farther (for physical distance) and further (time or direction). Another suggestion is to consider cutting “not only…, but also” where he gives the example, “The concert was not only long, but also boring” becoming “The concert was long and boring.”
I appreciate that Ross-Larson emphasizes that these are suggestions to consider, not rules to follow. Published in 1982, the majority of this advice remains relevant with a handful of exceptions. Most notably his sample style sheet is based on hand-editing style. Creating an electronic style sheet is now the common method and easier, though I know some copy editors still use the old method.
A style sheet is an alphabetized list of words in a book that have multiple acceptable spellings, like character names or whiskey/whisky. It’s used as a record and a reference to quickly check for consistency while editing. The hand method is to make a box for each letter or group of letters so you can write the words in the appropriate box as you read. You’d write Anne in the A box, so later if she’s called Ann you can check under A and know to add the e without having to skim the whole book to check how it was spelled before. Electronically, you just put each letter in bold in a document, and type the words in alphabetical order under the appropriate letter as you read.
I imagine there are more thorough books on this topic with better explanations, but it seems a solid enough quick primer and useful reference.
The second half is an alphabetical reference list of words and how you might consider editing them with the occasional explanation, like the difference between farther (for physical distance) and further (time or direction). Another suggestion is to consider cutting “not only…, but also” where he gives the example, “The concert was not only long, but also boring” becoming “The concert was long and boring.”
I appreciate that Ross-Larson emphasizes that these are suggestions to consider, not rules to follow. Published in 1982, the majority of this advice remains relevant with a handful of exceptions. Most notably his sample style sheet is based on hand-editing style. Creating an electronic style sheet is now the common method and easier, though I know some copy editors still use the old method.
A style sheet is an alphabetized list of words in a book that have multiple acceptable spellings, like character names or whiskey/whisky. It’s used as a record and a reference to quickly check for consistency while editing. The hand method is to make a box for each letter or group of letters so you can write the words in the appropriate box as you read. You’d write Anne in the A box, so later if she’s called Ann you can check under A and know to add the e without having to skim the whole book to check how it was spelled before. Electronically, you just put each letter in bold in a document, and type the words in alphabetical order under the appropriate letter as you read.
I imagine there are more thorough books on this topic with better explanations, but it seems a solid enough quick primer and useful reference.
September 1, 2022
Practical, thorough, and admittedly pedestrian. But if all writers would digest and practice these basic skills first, and wax eloquent from there, it would raise the entire quality of the English language.
From the Author's Note:
"...[These] recommendations would, I admit, reduce great prose to the ordinary. But if followed, they can lift ordinary writing to a plane of greater clarity and distinction."
Most writing is ordinary and can benefit from Ross-Larson's recommendations.
Ordinary corporate writing, especially, needs to be brought "to a plane of greater clarity and distinction."
Good, solid, practical wisdom here for all writers, conveyed largely through lists of words and phrases to "CUT, CHANGE TO, COMPARE, and TRY" that illustrate his recommendations and make them immediately applicable.
From the Author's Note:
"...[These] recommendations would, I admit, reduce great prose to the ordinary. But if followed, they can lift ordinary writing to a plane of greater clarity and distinction."
Most writing is ordinary and can benefit from Ross-Larson's recommendations.
Ordinary corporate writing, especially, needs to be brought "to a plane of greater clarity and distinction."
Good, solid, practical wisdom here for all writers, conveyed largely through lists of words and phrases to "CUT, CHANGE TO, COMPARE, and TRY" that illustrate his recommendations and make them immediately applicable.
March 4, 2024
5 ★
just as the title says, everyone who works with words should read this! it's a quick read with hundreds and hundreds of examples on how to improve your writing, word by word. i've read it once already but the information here is worth reading over and over again. it's also a great reference to have on-hand while writing/editing.
highly recommend!
just as the title says, everyone who works with words should read this! it's a quick read with hundreds and hundreds of examples on how to improve your writing, word by word. i've read it once already but the information here is worth reading over and over again. it's also a great reference to have on-hand while writing/editing.
highly recommend!
May 30, 2023
A handy reference book to use while line editing. I think if you were to read this book page by page without having any writing to apply it to, the lessons would go over your head, so it’s definitely one to be using as you're working with words.
It provides cuts, comparisons, and changes for cleaning up your sentences, and some basic overviews of common writing problems and solutions for them so you can make your sentences as clear and concise as possible.
It provides cuts, comparisons, and changes for cleaning up your sentences, and some basic overviews of common writing problems and solutions for them so you can make your sentences as clear and concise as possible.
March 26, 2018
The great thing about libraries is you get to read books that you don't own. Another benefit? You get to evaluate books you might want to own if you like them. One example of the latter is "Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words" by Bruce Ross-Larson.
"Edit Yourself" is a good reference for those who would like to peer into the mind of a copy editor. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, since the latest edition of this book is from 1996, there are now several apps that do most everything this book offers and more easily than looking within the pages of this handy little reference volume. I offer some recommendations at the end of this review.
But if you're old school, this book itemizes lists of things an editor might trim, change, or compare, such as:
- Trimming the fat,
- Choosing a better or more appropriate word,
- Reordering a sentence for optimal effect,
-Ridding your manuscript of dangling constructions,
- Using the optimal voice (passive, active),
- Creating effective parallel constructions in sentences,
- Driving for consistency in your prose.
Examples of the good, bad, and ugly are offered in alphabetical order for easy look-up. So lacking a smart device app to search for your problematic word, phrase, or sentence, this little 107-page volume might be just the reference you might find useful.
I recommend this book to those of you who may not always have a computer, phone, or tablet app available that performs a similar reference function. My two favorite apps for this purpose are ProWritingAid and Hemingway.
With pen in hand... Gene
GK Jurrens
www.twitter.com/gjurrens1
February 20, 2019
This book demonizes the passive voice and I feEL VERY ATTACKED!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews