Editing and Revision

Parent: Writing and Documentation · researched 2026-05-29T19:26:40.126Z· 7 sources · 10 concepts · skill editing-and-revision

When invoked: the user submits existing prose. Return the revised text, complete and drop-in ready, followed by a brief pass log noting which passes were applied and what was changed.

Editing and Revision

When invoked: the user submits existing prose. Return the revised text, complete and drop-in ready, followed by a brief pass log noting which passes were applied and what was changed. [source]

The Multi-Pass Methodology

Work top-down. Fix the largest problems before polishing sentences. [source]
Pass 1 - Structural. Does the argument hold? Is the order defensible? [source]
Pass 2 - Paragraph. Does each paragraph have one job? [source]
Pass 3 - Sentence. Apply the verb-first pass, active-voice scan, and cohesion check. [source]
Pass 4 - Word. Nominalizations, hedges, redundant pairs, filler phrases. [source]

1. Actions in Verbs, Not Nouns — Kill Nominalizations

Spot them: look for Latinate nouns ending in -tion, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ity, -ness that have living verbs inside them. [source]
Before: The committee engaged in a discussion of the proposal. [source]
After: The committee discussed the proposal. [source]

2. Characters in Subjects

Before: It was determined by the review board that the application was deficient. [source]
After: The review board found the application deficient. [source]

3. Cohesion — Old Information Before New

The beginning of a sentence anchors the reader to what they know; the end delivers new payload. [source]

4. Emphasis — Put the Most Important Content at the End

The end of a sentence is its stress position. If your sentence ends on a qualifier, a parenthetical, or filler, you have surrendered emphasis. [source]

5. Concision — Cut Metadiscourse, Hedges, Redundant Pairs

Metadiscourse - sentences about the text: It is important to note that, As I mentioned above. [source]
Hedges - it could be argued that, it seems as if, in some sense. [source]
Redundant pairs - each and every, null and void, true and accurate. [source]

6. Shape — Long Sentences Need Architecture

Find every sentence over two lines. Read it aloud. If you lose the thread before the period, break it or add a visible frame. [source]

7. Elegance — Rhythm, Balance, Parallelism

Before: We need to improve morale, reduce attrition, and the onboarding process should be shortened. [source]
After: We need to improve morale, reduce attrition, and shorten onboarding. [source]

The Verb-First Pass

Scan every sentence. Locate the main verb. If the verb is a form of be plus a nominalization, extract the hidden verb and rebuild. [source]

The Cut-30% Pass

Set a target: 30% of words on the cutting room floor. King: "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart." [source]

The Active-Voice Pass

Search the draft for every was and were followed by a past participle. For each instance, decide: (1) Is the actor unknown or genuinely irrelevant? Keep passive. (2) Is the actor known and relevant? Rewrite in active voice. (3) Is the passive hiding accountability? Rewrite. [source]

The Paragraph-Coherence Pass

Print or copy only the first sentence of each paragraph. Read those sentences as a standalone document. Ask: Does the sequence form an argument? Are any two sentences redundant? [source]

The Topic-Sentence-First Pass

For every paragraph, ask: is the point in the first sentence, or is it buried? [source]

The Floor Rule — When to Stop Cutting

A reader would need to re-read to recover the missing context. [source]
The sentence no longer names its subject. [source]
Parallel structure has been broken to save words. [source]

Quick Diagnostic Checklist

[ ] Structural pass complete - argument skeleton valid [source]
[ ] Every paragraph has a first sentence that states its point [source]
[ ] No nominalizations where a verb is available [source]
[ ] Every sentence's subject names the actor [source]
[ ] Key content lands at sentence end, not middle [source]
[ ] Every was/were + past participle audited [source]
[ ] Metadiscourse, hedges, and redundant pairs cut [source]
[ ] Long sentences (>35 words) have visible architecture [source]
[ ] Parallel items are grammatically parallel [source]
[ ] 30% cut target met [source]
[ ] Read aloud complete - no stumbles remain [source]

Sources

Joseph M. Williams, "Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace" (12th ed.) [source]
William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White, "The Elements of Style" [source]
Stephen King, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" [source]
Steven Pinker, "The Sense of Style" [source]

Children

Four editing types (developmental, line, copy, proofreading) (frontier)
Multi-pass top-down methodology (structural → paragraph → sentence → word) (frontier)
Nominalization elimination (Williams) (frontier)
Given/New contract (Williams) (frontier)
Verb-first pass (frontier)
Active-voice scan (frontier)
Cut-30% pass (frontier)
Paragraph-coherence pass (frontier)
Topic-sentence-first pass (frontier)
24-hour cooling-off before sentence passes (frontier)

Frontier under this node: 24-hour cooling-off before sentence passes, Active-voice scan, Cut-30% pass, Four editing types (developmental, line, copy, proofreading), Given/New contract (Williams), Multi-pass top-down methodology (structural → paragraph → sentence → word), Nominalization elimination (Williams), Paragraph-coherence pass, Topic-sentence-first pass, Verb-first pass

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