Copy-editing

 

- Brian Mendonca

Copy-editing, in most cases, is to improve the quality of the written text without changing its meaning. It involves sprucing up the language, looking for typos, and ensuring the writer's intention is conveyed.

The proof, which is sheet or a bunch of sheets of typed matter, needs to be read with an experienced eye. Mistakes need to be spotted at the proof stage to avoid embarrassment after the matter is printed. Glaring errors or insensitive content can result in the book being withdrawn from the market and/or pulped, leading to losses for the publisher. 

While the copyeditor is reading the proof, s/he marks the desired changes on the hard copy, with a proofreading symbol in the margin closest to the place where the change is called for. At the same time the copyeditor needs to be aware of the drift of the author's intent and makes mental notes to enhance an understanding of the content. 

There are many proofreading symbols. Proofreading symbols can be used to indicate a new paragraph or a run-on line;  delete a word or line; transpose text; make the text un/bold/; un/italicize the text; de/capitalize text; insert a comma, full stop, or inverted comma; delete unnecessary text; shift text to the right/left; close up text, or to indicate that no change is necessary by the word 'stet.' An authoritative list of proof correction symbols may be found at Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors, and Proofreaders (2006) by Judith Butcher et al. (pgs. 479-83) Originally published in 1975, this book, now in its fourth edition, is still the go-to source for professional editing. (Click title to view PDF.)

Matters of style also have to be kept in mind and applied consistently. For a quotation, is the matter in double or single-inverted commas? Does the closing inverted comma come after or before the full stop? When do you use 's' or 'z'? Names of persons, and places need to spelt the same way every time. Titles of books, films, and works need to be italicized.

In the passage below, the copy editor is required to have basic skills like good spelling; good punctuation; a keen sense of how new content is being added (to suggest a new paragraph); a grasp of what the writer is trying to say; and a flair for idioms. The copyeditor needs to be up-to-date with current affairs. 

Edit the following passage using proofreading symbols. A sample of the copy-edited text is provided at the end. 

dark vs fair | An ugly prejudice

The dark versus fair debate reignites, exposing the persistent bias against darker skin among Indian

-Manisha Saroop, Jumana Shah, Sonali Acharjee

In 21st century India it does not matter that you are a woman who has broken the glass ceiling. Just a stray unfeeling comment can transport you back to a place of insecurity that you thought you had left far behind. A time when the dark er shade of your skin put you in the shadows, unseen, unheard and unwanted. Sarada Muraleedharan was in that place recently. Courtesy a careless remark thrown at her about her tenure as Kerala chief secretary being as black as her husbands was white, the black labelling bearing “the quite subtext of being a woman”. Long inured to the casual colourism she had had encountered all her life, Sarda decided to “call this one out” on a facebook post simply because of the speakers implied equivalence of black with “the ne’er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness”. The eloquent post reopened an old wound as it were and reignited the debate about the ugly, unfair prejudice Indians continue to harbour against someone dark of skin. A whole see of condemnation erupted on mainstream and socialmedia in response to Sarada’s post, with hashtags like #Unfair&Lovely begining to trend widely, challenging the norm, and celebrating darker skin tones. The actress Kani Kusruti, who left a tasting impresion with her performance in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light the first Indian film to win a Grand Prix award at Canes wrote an impassioned column in a leading daily, talking of how, even a as child, her relatives asked her to wear only lightcoloured clothes because “if you wear black or any other dark shade, we can’t see you”. There is a hierarchy of colour, she went on to add, especially for woman and girls, and therefore of beauty. Model-actress Poulomi Das recounted how she was on the verge of baging a lead role in a telvision show only to learn that the channel rejected her on grounds of skin colour. ronically, five years ago, Das was the face of Glow & Lovely, the new name for India’s most famous skin-whitening cream brand, after worldwide protests, including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, saw Hindustan Unilever replace the word ‘fair’ with ‘glow’ in 2020. That change proved to be, well, cosmetic. The skin lightning business is a booming one in India, worth $1.3-1.5 billion (Rs 11,100-12,800 crore) currently, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAPR) of around 6.5-7.2 per cent over the decade next, according to a report on the subject by the Pune-based market research firm Future Market Insights. fairnes continues to be the ideal of beauty, with few dark-skinned role models in mainstream media or hindi films, while social media is rep lete with visual representations of fairness as a marker of success and happiness. Meanwhile, despite growing awareness, matrimonial advertisements continue to exhibit a preference for “light-skinned” brides. A 2018 survey of such ads showed that over 60 per cent of the men wanted fair-skinned women “Women’s bodies are their curency in the marriage market. For a dark-skinned man who is doing well financially, marrying a light-skinned normatively beautiful woman can be a trophy to further signal his status and power,” says Radhika Parameswaran, professor at The Media School, Indiana University, US, who has done extensive research on colourism in India. “And as is the case in many diferent countries where physical appearance becomes an insidius factor in workplace success and mobility, it is not surprising that Indians, and especially women, worry that all things being equal, a light-skinned person could end up being favoured for work opportuniteis.”
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The same passage highlighting the places where editing is required:

Dark vs fair | An ugly prejudice

The 'dark versus fair' debate reignites, exposing the persistent bias against darker skin among Indians

-Manisha Saroop, Jumana Shah, Sonali Acharjee

In 21st century India, it does not matter that you are a woman who has broken the glass ceiling. Just a stray, unfeeling comment can transport you back to a place of insecurity that you thought you had left far behind. A time when the darker shade of your skin put you in the shadows, unseen, unheard and unwanted. Sarada Muraleedharan was in that place recently. Courtesy a careless remark thrown at her about her tenure as Kerala chief secretary being as black as her husband’s was white, the black labelling bearing “the quiet subtext of being a woman”. Long inured to the casual colourism she had encountered all her life, Sarada decided to “call this one out” on a Facebook post simply because of the speaker’s implied equivalence of black with “the ne’er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness”.

The eloquent post reopened an old wound as it were and reignited the debate about the ugly, unfair prejudice Indians continue to harbour against someone dark of skin. A whole sea of condemnation erupted on mainstream and social media in response to Sarada’s post, with hashtags like #Unfair&Lovely beginning to trend widely, challenging the norm, and celebrating darker skin tones. The actress Kani Kusruti, who left a lasting impression with her performance in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, the first Indian film to win a Grand Prix award at Cannes, wrote an impassioned column in a leading daily, talking of how, even as a child, her relatives asked her to wear only light-coloured clothes because “if you wear black or any other dark shade, we can’t see you”. There is a hierarchy of colour, she went on to add, especially for women and girls, and therefore of beauty. Model-actress Poulomi Das recounted how she was on the verge of bagging a lead role in a television show only to learn that the channel rejected her on grounds of skin colour.

Ironically, five years ago, Das was the face of Glow & Lovely, the new name for India’s most famous skin-whitening cream brand, after worldwide protests, including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, saw Hindustan Unilever replace the word ‘fair’ with ‘glow’ in 2020. That change proved to be, well, cosmetic. The skin lightening business is a booming one in India, worth $1.3-1.5 billion (Rs 11,100-12,800 crore) currently, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 6.5-7.2 per cent over the next decade, according to a report on the subject by the Pune-based market research firm Future Market Insights. Fairness continues to be the ideal of beauty, with few dark-skinned role models in mainstream media or Hindi films, while social media is replete with visual representations of fairness as a marker of success and happiness.

Meanwhile, despite growing awareness, matrimonial advertisements continue to exhibit a preference for “light-skinned” brides. A 2018 survey of such ads showed that over 60 per cent of the men wanted fair-skinned women. “Women’s bodies are their currency in the marriage market. For a dark-skinned man who is doing well financially, marrying a light-skinned normatively beautiful woman can be a trophy to further signal his status and power,” says Radhika Parameswaran, professor at The Media School, Indiana University, US, who has done extensive research on colourism in India. “And as is the case in many different countries where physical appearance becomes an insidious factor in workplace success and mobility, it is not surprising that Indians, and especially women, worry that all things being equal, a light-skinned person could end up being favoured for work opportunities.”

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Sample of copy-edited text using proof-reading symbols:

SOURCE:
Saroop, Manisha,  Jumana Shah, and  Sonali Acharjee. 'Dark vs Fair: An Ugly Prejudice.' India Today Magazine. Online. 14 April 2025. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20250414-dark-vs-fair-an-ugly-prejudice-2703920-2025-04-04  Updated 22/4/25.