Editing sample
Here is a text I was asked to edit, implementing the following editorial choices:
U.K. English; all paragraphs indented 1 cm; single quotes (double inner); no list comma
(‘red, white and blue’); closed-up em rule for dash; AD, BC small caps (no stops)
Original text
Edited text
Silk was at first rather shocking to the
Early Romans, a rough farming and
fighting people. In a major Battle with the
Parthians at Carrhae in 53 B.C., the
Romans, already at a disadvantage
against the powerful Parthian archers,
were completely disrupted when the
Parthians unfurled there brilliantly dyed
iridescent slik banners, apprantly the first
silk seen ever by the roman troops. The
affect was devastatating. The roman
attempt to imitate Alexander the great's
triumphs in Asia quickly colapsed, and the
Roman eagles - the standards of the
defeated legions - wer taken up onto the
Iranian plateau to decorate Pathian
palaces on the Silk Road
Silk was, at first, rather shocking to
the early Romans, a rough farming and
fighting people. In a major battle with the
Parthians at Carrhae in 53 BC, the
Romans, already at a disadvantage
against the powerful Parthian archers,
were completely disrupted when the
Parthians unfurled their brilliantly dyed
iridescent silk banners, apparently the
first silk ever seen by the Roman troops.
The effect was devastating. The Roman
attempt to imitate Alexander the Great’s
triumphs in Asia quickly collapsed, and
the Roman eagles—the standards of the
defeated legions—were taken up on to
the Iranian plateau to decorate Parthian
palaces on the Silk Road.
For the Romans, silk was also a
symbol of Eastern decadence.
Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, may
have owed some of her reputation as a
seductress to her love of dressing in fine
silks. This was, perhaps, a more daring
attire than it might seem, for many of the
silks of early times were extremely sheer
gauzes—the Indians called them ‘woven
wind’—not like the later and heavier
satins, damasks and brocades, or even
the light but more opaque fabrics of
modern times.
In the first century BC, silk was still
rare in the West. The Chinese may have
penetrated halfway across Asia to the
eastern half of the Silk Road, but the
5,000-mile route remained long and
tortuous. With peoples all along the way
battling to control a piece of the great
trans-Asian highway, only tiny amounts
of the tissue-like fabric reached the
West. Even the richest and most
powerful Romans wore only small
pieces—strips, circles or squares—of
For the Romans, silk was also a symbol of
Eastern decadance. Cleopatra, queen of
Egypt, may have owed some of her
reputation as a seductress to her love of
dressing in fine silks. This was, perhaps a
more daring attire that it might seem, for
many of the sliks of earlt times were
extremely sheer gauzes - the Indians
called them woven "wind - not the later
and heavier satins, damasks and
brocades, or even the light but more
opaque fabrics of modern times.
In the first century BC, silk was still rare in
the west. The Chinese may have
penetrated halfway across Asia to the
eatern half of the Silk Raod, but the
5,000-mile route remained longand
tortuous. With peoples all along the way
battling to control a piece of the great
trans-Asian highway, only tiny amounts of
the tissuelike fabric reached the West.
Even the richest and most powerful
ROMANS wore only small pieces - strips,
circles or squares - of silk sown on to their
other-wise all-white wool, cotton or linen
togas or tunics. If these silk fragments
were then dyed purple or embroidered
with gold and silver threads, their cost
might increase forty-fold. It is not wonder,
given it's expence and rarity, that dyed silk
was used to indicate bight station. So,
purple edging on a toga was the mark of a
patrician, as stripes of scarlet and and
purple identified a highly placed court
soothsayer.
silk sewn on to their otherwise all-white
wool, cotton or linen togas or tunics. If
these silk fragments were then dyed
purple or embroidered with gold and
silver threads, their cost might increase
forty-fold. It is not wonder, given it’s
expense and rarity, that dyed silk was
used to indicate high station. So, purple
edging on a toga was the mark of a
patrician, and stripes of scarlet and
purple identified a highly placed court
soothsayer.