Exercise 3: Copy Editing

INSTRUCTIONS: Use the proper copy-editing symbols to correct all the mechanical, spelling and AP style errors in the following sentences. None of the possessives have been formed for you. During the 1990s, a nine year old girl in Ruston Louisiana won a trophy, 5000 dollars, and a trip to the United States Capital Bl;dg. Thomas Shriver Junior an employee of the Roess Company in Fairbanks Alaska has a Ph.D. in economics and will be here Mon, Tues., & Wed. Prof. Rebecca Malone of Forty-two Fifth Avenue works in the History Department and shares an office in Rm. 247 of the Humanities Bldg. Afterwards, 7 persons, all United States citizens, testified that the US navy payed the Westinghouse Corporation $14,200,000 dollars. The Washington Post reported Tue. That the suspect is White, in her 30s, about 5 ft., 2 inches tall, and weighs about one hundred pds. Only one media reported that the President of the National Rifle Assn. met with sixteen members of the US Congress on August 23, 2008. During the 1960s, a committee of the United States Congress estimated that the program would cost $7 to $8.4 billion dollars. The boy, age 7, had 42 cents and said his mother, the Mayor, will attend the P.T.A meeting Nov. 28 if the temperature remains above 0. It was an unusual phenomena. During the twentieth century, the odds were 9 to 1 that 80 % of the Mayors would be reelected to a 2nd term. Moving backwards, the 14 yr old babysitter in martin Tn. Said goodbye, then picked up the bible and ran towards her home on Roe St.

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Copy Editing Exercises

No one is born as a copy editing genius. All the copy editors have read many books and articles, written and practiced as writers and copy editors to be accepted in the writers world as copy editors. Copy editors must also have a vast knowledge of famous people, places, current affairs, statistics, besides basic spellings, grammar and punctuation knowledge, because as a copy editor it is essential to look into the legitimacy of the article on every subject area. Thus an ongoing copy editing exercise is vast reading and being up-to-date on world issues. If you wish to be a copy editor, there are some basic exercises you can carry out on your own or with the assistance of your family and friends.

Start with exercises testing your spelling. Get a friend or family to write down 20 30 words or more and also write the same word in incorrect spellings. You will have to go through and select the correct spelling for the word. (e.g. seize, sieze). Another exercise for spellings is to get your friend to write down some words with incorrect spellings and some in-between the list with correct spellings. You will have to identify the words with incorrect spellings and correct them. Get your friend or you can yourself test the accuracy at the end of the exercise with the help of the dictionary of computer. Exercises also must be done in identifying acronym, important personalities in arts and entertainment, political figures, international figures, important people in the fields of science, mathematics, health and sports. Next get some exercises ready to identify important dates in history. Also test your general knowledge and current affairs. Get some basic exercises to test your mathematic knowledge. Find short paragraphs online which have errors in facts and correct them to the best of your knowledge. Keep your assistants busy writing sentences with errors, and exercise your skill and speed in correcting them. Edit them for errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and word usage.. To be a good copy editor, practice writing eye catching headlines and pay off lines for articles. The final exercise would be in editing whole paragraphs and stories for spelling errors, grammar, style and facts. These are all basic exercises required to be a good copy editor. All copy editors have done these exercises at some time in life and continue practicing to be in touch and up to date to do a great job at copy editing.