3 ms·
Back in high school I was the copy editor for the paper (and the minutiae of AP style are still seared into my brain), and it's definitely been a useful skill.
by awillen 6y ago
Back in high school I was the copy editor for the paper (and the minutiae of AP style are still seared into my brain), and it's definitely been a useful skill. My first job was doing developer marketing, and we had a lot of devs that were happy to contribute to our blog but didn't feel their writing was great - a lot of it was just little grammatical and style stuff, so my being able to clean it up really encouraged them to work with me on creating content.
That said, I think that reading a book on copy edit just to be able to edit your own stuff is a little bit of overkill. You don't need a deep, sophisticated knowledge of grammar - something like Strunk and White's Elements of Style will cover the grammar stuff you need while also helping to offer a little bit better sense of bigger-picture writing style.
- CapitalistCartr 6y agoStrunk and White's Elements of Style is trash; don't buy it, don't read it, don't follow its advice. Read this first: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.html http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.html
- dhosek 6y agoMy wife has been reading Charlotte's Web to our kids. I asked her if she was familiar with the Strunk and White Guide and she thought I was asking if she was familiar with the drunken white guy. (For the record, she was familiar with neither.) (And for those who don't know, Charlotte's Web was written by E. B. White who is the White of Strunk and White.)