Feedback

I work for a bunch of different people and companies, so I'm used to having to adapt my grammar standards based on personal preference. It pisses me off, but if the client wants to follow AP style and not The Chicago Manual of Style, so be it. I'm flexible.

Here's where I lose it. If you're going to give me feedback on editing that you didn't like, you'd better make goddamn sure I'm wrong, and you're going to want to state your complaints using correct grammar. Here are some of the gems from a recent "feedback" email:


1. If you are ever unsure of a specific name or term, always try and do a quick Google search.
Wrong. I will try to do a Google search next time. The great part about this one is that I did a Google search for the term she's referring to, and she clearly didn't. Her correction actually made it incorrect.

2. The band, “Genesis” would be considered a singular noun and so this needs to be changed for subject-verb agreement.
Wrong. Read your Chicago Manual of Style. Bands are always plural. Also, why is there a comma after "band"? Is there a closing comma somewhere that I just can't see? Furthermore, a conjunction always takes a comma. You cannot add a second conjunction in the place of a comma. "And so" is just wrong.


3. This word is okay, but isn’t as commonly used so we might want to consider offering alternative word choices
We need to do a lesson on commas and conjunctions, don't we? I won't bother including all examples of this.


4. Added to maintain consistency, see comment #14 for more information.
Because your first thought is not a complete sentence, does that make the comma splice okay?

5. Sorry it took me a while to get back to you on this one, the last couple of weeks have been very hectic lately.
Comma splices are fun!


6. Some specific notes and feedback for you, to include the points you mentioned below.
Incomplete sentence, confusing comma. Also not sure who "you" is, as I didn't mention any points anywhere.


7. I did fix the fonts and formatting in them though.
Here we need a comma before "though." Maybe we could borrow one of those extra ones from another sentence. Also, "did fix" just sounds awkward. I'd go with "fixed."


8. There were also a few instances where grammar was still an issue, or where alternative word choices should be offer to help improve formality
There were also times when commas should be delete to help improve correctness. 


9. It’s not necessary to italicize band names, but song titles and/or Album titles can be. 
Can be necessary? This makes no sense. Also, why is "Album" capitalized?


10. There’s a couple of other instances where comprehensibility also needed to be improved.
This is a case where we're considering the instances and not "a couple" as a single unit. Effectively, you just said, "There is other instances." Yes, there is people who write like this. Also, did you notice how your sentence ended with "needed," a nifty past-tense verb? So why is your first verb ("is") in the present tense? The tenses is changing as the sentence goes on. 


Everyone makes minor errors and typos when they type. I'm sure I've had a million of them. That's the point of an editor: to catch stuff you don't see because you know what you meant. However, if you're going to go out of your way to complain about my editing, I expect you to have at least attempted to edit your complaints. There are just no excuse for this kind of thing.