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Topic: copy-editing test question
| Author | Message |
| editme2 | Posted – 7/2/2008 10:52:07 AM | show profile This is probably a dumb question, but here goes.... I just took a copy-editing test and for the life of me could not figure out what was wrong with this sentence: President George Bush said the Chinese would try and correct their trade imbalance. The instructions were to correct grammar and spelling and use AP style. I stared at this sentence for a long time and ended up changing it to: President George Bush said China would try to correct its trade imbalance. Did I miss something? Thanks for any insight..... |
| epenthesis | Posted – 7/2/2008 11:14:47 AM | show profile | email poster You fixed the two biggest errors. The other big one is his name; in this context he would either be "President Bush" or "President George W. Bush" (probably the former). It would arguably improve clarity to add "that" after "said," but I don't think it's necessary (though it's been a long time since I used AP). |
| editme2 | Posted – 7/2/2008 11:39:09 AM | show profile Thanks! I thought of adding the "W" to his name, but ultimately chose not to. I guess I didn't think there would be much confusion....Oh well, guess I won't be getting this job....:-) The rest of the test was fairly easy, but some of the history questions and people IDs stumped me. A part of me was furious at having to answer questions about who wrote "The Iliad" and what happened on Jan. 28, 1986. I mean, really, how often does that stuff come up in copy every day? I can see asking about current events and people, but if you encountered anything more complicated on the job, you'd just look it up. It's unfortunate that mags and newspapers put so much emphasis on these tests. A quirk of the profession, I guess.... |
| jjones | Posted – 7/2/2008 2:11:19 PM | show profile Who is "their"? Yes, it should be "try to correct" But who is "their"? The Chinese's? The U.S.'s? The trade imbalance between China and the U.S.? That's my guess. |
| newtotown | Posted – 7/2/2008 6:03:21 PM | show profile Was your test for a newspaper or magazine? I'm assuming a test for a women's fashion mag would be pretty different than one for a news weekly or newspaper, right? |
| epenthesis | Posted – 7/3/2008 12:15:54 PM | show profile | email poster I've never seen an editorial test include general knowledge questions, but I don't think it's out of line. Copy editors aren't merely responsible for spelling and syntax--you're expected to be able to spot oddities in the content as well, and that requires some breadth or depth of knowledge, depending on the subject matter. |
