Copyediting sample 16:
President or professor

As an editor, I often need to query to resolve an ambiguity. (In BLUE BOLDFACE ALL CAPS, you can see how the author responded to my query.) Note: The author preferred the alternative spelling “protestors.”

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This sample is presented here with the author’s permission.

Original
Click to go to the markup.

“When the protests started, the college president condemned the professor’s statements but insisted that the professor could say whatever he wanted, because he had tenure. That didn’t quiet things down, so the students kept protesting and eventually got national attention. That’s when the president announced that the professor had agreed to stop teaching, although he didn’t resign his position.” “So the protestors won, right?” “Yes, I’d say so, but I found another article from a few months after that announcement that said the president of the college was resigning. He was accused of paying the professor under the table to get him to quit teaching. When that was discovered, the university ordered a complete audit and found a lot of unnecessary expenses. They said he spent had spent too much money furnishing his office and on travel.”

Markup
Click to go to the author’s review.

“When the protests started, the college president condemned the professor’s statements but insisted that the professor could say whatever he wanted, because he had tenure. That didn’t quiet things down, so the students kept protesting and eventually got national attention. That’s when the president announced that the professor had agreed to stop teaching, although he didn’t resign his position.” “So the protestors won, right?” “Yes, I’d say so, but I found another article from a few months after that announcement that said the president of the college was resigning. He was accused of paying the professor under the table to get him to quit teaching. When that was discovered, the university ordered a complete audit and found a lot of unnecessary expenses. They said he [who is “he”? the professor or the president of the college?] spent had spent too much money furnishing his office and on travel.”

The Author’s Review
in BLUE BOLDFACE ALL CAPS
Click to go to the second-pass result.

“When the protests started, the college president condemned the professor’s statements but insisted that the professor could say whatever he wanted, because he had tenure. That didn’t quiet things down, so the students kept protesting and eventually got national attention. That’s when the president announced that the professor had agreed to stop teaching, although he didn’t resign his position.” “So the protestors won, right?” “Yes, I’d say so, but I found another article from a few months after that announcement that said the president of the college was resigning. He was accused of paying the professor under the table to get him to quit teaching. When that was discovered, the university ordered a complete audit and found a lot of unnecessary expenses. They said he [who is “he”? the professor or the president of the college?] THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE spent had spent too much money furnishing his office and on travel.”

The Second-Pass Result
Click to go to the next sample in the series.

“When the protests started, the college president condemned the professor’s statements but insisted that the professor could say whatever he wanted, because he had tenure. That didn’t quiet things down, so the students kept protesting and eventually got national attention. That’s when the president announced that the professor had agreed to stop teaching, although he didn’t resign his position.” “So the protestors won, right?” “Yes, I’d say so, but I found another article from a few months after that announcement that said the president of the college was resigning. He was accused of paying the professor under the table to get him to quit teaching. When that was discovered, the university ordered a complete audit and found a lot of unnecessary expenses. They said the president had spent too much money furnishing his office and on travel.”