LEARNING RESOURCES
Editing Prose Quiz
Answers
by Laura King, MA, ELS
Below is an example of an edited version of the paragraph. Because no 2 editors will
edit the same manuscript exactly the same way, this answer key aims to point out
egregious errors.
Herbal Therapy in Dermatology
Herbal therapy is becoming increasingly popular among patients and physicians. Many
herbal preparations are marketed to the public for various skin conditions. Herbal
therapies have been used successfully [Editor’s Note: misspelled word] in treating
dermatologic disorders for thousands [Editor’s Note: Thousands is not possessive, so no
apostrophe is required; §8.7, Apostrophe, pp 362-363 in print] of years in Europe and
Asia. In Germany, a regulatory commission [Editor’s Note: Regulatory commission is not
a proper name, so no capitalization is required; §10.3.9, Official Names, pp 377-378 in
print] oversees herbal preparations and recommended uses. In Asia, herbal treatments
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that have been used for centuries are now being studied scientifically. In the United
States [Editor’s Note: Abbreviations such as US and UK may be used as modifiers (ie,
only when they directly precede the word they modify) but should be expanded in all
other contexts; §14.5, Cities, States, Counties, Territories, Possessions; Provinces;
Countries, pp 451-456 in print], the Food and Drug Administration [Editor’s Note: The
names of all organizations should be spelled out at first mention; §14.8, Agencies and
Organizations, pp 458-472 in print] does not regulate herbal products because [Editor’s
Note: The word as should be avoided when it could be construed to mean while; §11.1,
Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases, pp 381-405 in print] they
are considered dietary supplements; [Editor’s Note: Use a semicolon between main
clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb (eg, also, besides, furthermore, then, however,
thus, hence, indeed, yet) or a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor) if 1 of the
clauses has internal punctuation or is considerably long; §8.2.1, Comma, Semicolon,
Colon, pp 336-341 in print] therefore, there is no standardization of active ingredients,
purity, [Editor’s Note: In a simple coordinate series of 3 or more terms, separate the
elements by commas; §8.2.1, Comma, Semicolon, Colon, pp 336-341 in print] or
concentration. There are also no regulations governing which herbs can be marketed for
various ailments, which [Editor’s Note: Clauses that begin with which are preceded by
commas; §7.2.2, Relative Pronouns, pp 317-319 in print] has made learning about and
using these treatments challenging. We reviewed the scientific evidence of clinical
efficacy of the herbal medications and the more common herbs useful in the treatment
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LEARNING RESOURCES
of dermatologic disorders. Knowledge about the safety of the herbs has [Editor’s Note:
subject-verb disagreement; §7.8.1, Intervening Phrase, pp 327-328 in print] been shown
to better enable physicians [Editor’s Note: subject-complement disagreement; §7.1.3,
Subject-Complement Agreement, pp 316-317 in print] to know which herbal therapies
they may want to use in practice. [Editor’s Note: misplaced modifier; §7.4.1, Misplaced
Modifiers, pp 322-323 in print] We also studied common drug interactions and adverse
effects of herbal medicines [Editor’s Note: Because a side effect can be either beneficial
or harmful, adverse effect should be used when referring to harmful effects; §11.1,
Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases, pp 381-405 in print].
Copyright © American Medical Association, 2011. For educational use only.
www.amamanualofstyle.com