Steps of the Editing Process

for Hybrid ENG101:
The Steps of the Editing Process

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Editing Gets a Bad Rap
by Richard Felnagle

1.
The first thing you do when you edit is you look at the first couple of words of every sentence.
It it starts with "which" or "such as," it's probably a fragment.
If the first couple of words refer back to and complete the meaning of the previous sentence, it's probably a fragment.
If it starts with something adverbial, it needs to be followed by a comma.
If it starts with the subject, go on.

2.
Look at every coordinate conjunction.
If what follows is an independent clause, a comma needs to be placed before the conjunction.
If what follows is a something else, count.
If there are only two things, no comma before the conjunction.
If there are more than two things, there must be a comma before the conjunction.
And check for parallelism.
If there's an -ing on one side, there must an -ing on the other.

3.
Stop and look at every relative pronoun.
Ask yourself: does it refer to the noun that it follows?
If it does, then you have an adjective clause, and you have to test it by taking it out of the sentence.
If it can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, it needs to have commas around it.
If not, there should not be commas around it.
If it does not refer to the noun that it follows, go on.

4.
Finally, stop and look at every single comma that you have not accounted for by the other steps of this process.
If what follows is an independent clause, then you have a comma splice. You need to add a coordinate conjunction.
If what follows is something adverbial, then you need to get rid of the comma.
If what follows is an -ing word, then you probably have a misplaced modifier and you should change the comma to the word "and" and get rid of the -ing.
And now, you're done with that sentence.
Go on to the next sentence.