How much editing is too much?

College Essays
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<p>Sometimes DS writes very strong essays right off the bat. (It helps if the topic inspires him.) Other times, he writes essays that have problems, such as turgidity and pomposity. (All those years studying Latin seem to have adversely affected his English diction, LOL.)</p>

<p>Well, as a professional writer (if you can call advertising <em>writing</em>), I have very itchy editing fingers. I see overly long sentences, and I yearn to chop them into two separate, shorter sentences. I see big words used where small ones would do fine, and I long to replace the big words with the smaller ones. </p>

<p>Usually, I simply make suggestions in red type, and DS takes it from there. I always say, "Use your own words," and he does. His style is very different from mine, and I try really hard to remember and respect that -- I can't steamroll over him and impose my "voice" on his.</p>

<p>But sometimes I wonder whether I'm doing too much suggesting...and even too much editing. (E.g., the fifth time he uses the word "additionally," I pull out my hair and substitute "plus" or "in addition.")</p>

<p>I always discuss stuff with him -- like why the active voice is stronger than the passive, or why a certain construction requires that the verb in the dependent clause be in the conditional mood. I hope he <em>gets</em> it -- although I sometimes see the same problem crop up in a subsequent essay. [beats head against wall]</p>

<p>In general, he's an excellent writer, but he still has much to learn, and I'm trying to guide him in the right direction without being too heavy-handed about it. But I really worry that I might be over-editing on occasion. I want to make sure that the content is <em>his,</em> not mine, even if the content ends up a little more gramamtically correct, a tad tighter, than it might have been without my input.</p>

<p>I'm also very concerned with honesty and integrity. I firmly believe that neither parents nor tutors should write kids' essays for them. I have never written an essay for DS, mind you...but, as I say, I have sometimes made a LOT of suggestions. (Not always...DS recently wrote an essay that was nearly perfect right out of the gate. The only edit I suggested was eliminating a semi-colon in favor of a period and new sentence. Other than that, I refrained from buttinsky-ing.)</p>

<p>So anyway...help!! How much editing is too much? Is it OK to suggest different words (e.g., in cases of incorrect word usage)? Is it OK to suggest copy cuts, where sentences run on too long? Is it OK to suggest that he replace some of his cumbersome Latinate words with pithy Anglo-Saxon ones?</p>

<p>Please advise. I want to do the right thing, and so does he.</p>

<p>Thanks!!!</p>

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<p>I’m not a mom, but I often offer to edit my peers’ college and academic essays (no one else at my school has managed to internalize grammar/writing rules). Typically, I provide suggestions by reminding them of grammar rules rather than by correcting every mistake. Occasionally, there are one-time mistakes–passive voice, verbosity, semicolons/comma/period use–that I’ll correct. But I’m not a professional editor editing for-publication work; the most important part of my “job” is to keep intact the author’s voice. This means not correcting mistakes that don’t impact meaning. </p>

<p>Believe me, sometimes I want to rewrite entire sentences or paragraphs to make them tighter. I can see the exact edit that would say the same thing with greater clarity. But that is not my duty. If your son gets his point across and knows how to use a comma (so many don’t), let his essays be.</p>

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<p>“This means not correcting mistakes that don’t impact meaning.”</p>

<p>Excellent point. Thanks!</p>

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<p>BTW, my first advertising copywriting job, way back when, was at a publishing house, Little, Brown. If you want your peers to internalize grammar rules, tell them to work at a publishing house. Publishing people make you just about memorize the Chicago Manual of Style, LOL. I’ve been a grammar nazi ever since my stint at Little, Brown – which hasn’t always gone over too well with my colleagues in the ad biz. :o</p>