- I wrote, "But all was not well on the borders." Copyeditor corrected to, "But not all was well on the borders." Nope, I like mine better. #
- I wrote "They knew little of Islam but too much of the rigid Hinduism of the Sena." Copyeditor corrected to… #
- "They knew little about Islam but too much about the rigid Hinduism of the Sena." And once again nope. Mine flows better. #
- I wrote, "To reduce the power of the church courts back within bounds, Henry needed a sympathetic archbishop." Copyeditor corrected to… #
- "To turn the power of the church courts to former bounds, Henry needed…" OK, I don't even need to finish that one, do I?? #
- You know, I sense that the copyeditor has begun to feel cranky. And we're only on p. 143 of 914… #
- Took a break from edits to feed sheep in the dusk. Glow-worms salted all through the pasture: chips of luminescence in dark grass. #
- Is it OK to say that tensions "escalate"? Wondering why copyeditor changed it to "tensions mounted." #copyedits #
- OK, I am having trouble with the phrase "hove to." Can I say that a fleet "hove to on the horizon"? Or do I need to say "heaved to"? #
- Richard I sent his entrails to be buried at Limoges. Does that really contradict statement that his body was buried at his father's feet? #
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Is it OK to say that tensions “escalate”? Wondering why copyeditor changed it to “tensions mounted.” #copyedits #
I prefer “escalate”!
I think, perhaps, heave and hove are like who and whom. To “heave to” and to “be hove to” I think are correct. If so, then a fleet does not itself “hove to” but is “hoved to” by those doing the heaving. Thus, “was hove to on the horizon” might be right.
However, I don’t know much about either sailing or grammar.
Re “all was not well” vs. “not all was well”: Once again, the well-respected Copyeditor’s Handbook by Amy Einsohn rules in your favor:
“In general, positively worded statements are easier for readers to understand correctly than are negatively worded statements. … But accentuating the positive doesn’t require eliminating all clusters of negatives. For example, if an author labels an issue ‘not unimportant,’ a copyeditor should not substitute ‘important.’ There is more than a shade of difference between the two expressions.” (pp. 397–98)
Check out the Wikipedia article on hove to, interesting.
Who gets to decide in the end? You or the copy editor?
Yeah, I like your own versions each time.
Oh, my goodness, Susan! Your version is so much more elegant in each case. You must hold the line!