Why we do it

Most of my editing these days is of arcane manuals written for (and by) computer programmers. "Sounds really dull" is a frequent comment from non-editing friends. And they're right, in a way. As a great copyediting guru, John Bremner, said, "You have to love the thrill of monotony."

It has its rewards, though, and among them are occasional insights into the nature of syntax.

At the moment, I'm editing the work of a good writer (a Londoner), who has just written that it's helpful on a web site to know "what and where changes have been made." This is easily understood, but to the editor's ear it doesn't quite ring true. There is a difference in nature between "what changes" (a noun construction) and the adverbial "where." Easy to straighten out, just by making it "what changes have been made, and where." (We can argue later over that comma.)

Here's a longer and trickier construction: "A function allows you to indicate whether files should be allowed to be used by only one person at a time when you create a site."

It would take a long paragraph to explain everything that's wrong here. The writer's meaning is fairly clear, but his thought is slightly blurred. Here's a try at straightening it out:

"A function allows you, when you create a site, to indicate whether more than one person at a time should be allowed to use a file."

Exactly the same number of words, but now the thought is precise.

Ah, precise thought! It's one of the joys of editing, and you can find it (or create it) anywhere, from poetry to programming.