Editing: The Work Nobody Notices When It Is Done Well
Editing is preparing someone else's work for an audience. The verb edit is younger than the noun editor, and was invented by working backwards from it.
Editing is the work of shaping material for its audience: cutting, ordering, correcting and checking. Curiously, the verb came second. English had *editor* first, borrowed from Latin, and then made *edit* out of it in the eighteenth century — a back-formation, the same process that produced *burgle* from *burglar*.
- Preparing text for publication. *The manuscript is still in editing.*
- Assembling film or audio. *Editing cut twenty minutes from the film.*
- Making changes to something existing. *Editing the photo.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | edit | Edit the draft. |
| Past | edited | An edited transcript. |
| -ing | editing | Careful editing. |
| Noun | editor | The editor cut it. |
| Adjective | editorial | An editorial decision. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The editing is what makes the interview readable.Editing as a whole activity takes a singular verb.
- The film was saved in the editing.A common judgement about cinema.
- This is an edited extract from her book.The phrase newspapers use to signal cuts.
The stages of editing a text
- Developmental editing — structure, argument, what belongs and what does not
- Line editing — how each sentence reads
- Copy-editing — grammar, consistency, house style
- Fact-checking — verifying claims, names and numbers
- Proofreading — the last pass, catching what everyone else missed
*Editor* comes from Latin *editor*, one who puts out, from *edere* (to give out or publish), built on *ex* (out) and *dare* (to give). English worked backwards from it to make the verb *edit*, which is why the two look like an ordinary pair but are not.
Editing or proofreading?
Proofreading is the final check for errors. Editing is broader and can change wording, order and content.
What does *edited for length* mean?
That the text has been cut to fit, without, in principle, changing what the speaker meant.