ldgilman posted at 1:35PM Thu, 18 February 2016 - #4255755

I certainly wish you the best, you have ben a great help to me. I also hope to be there some day. 6 months to proof read, WOW. Did you make a few changes (spelling, grammar or punctuation) or a lot of changes (whole paragraphs or pages)?? For me, to ensure continuity, I have made extensive changes that effected 2 or more pages. Also I am nowhere near the end.

I was being meticulous about the grammar, spelling, structure, story arc, consistency, and so on. And honestly, I don't think I got the consistency perfect. Small examples of things I warred with.

turret gun or turret-gun

phase one or Phase one or Phase One

dining cabin or Dining cabin

Merit or merit

And there were many more that required exhaustive research to find the correct usage. There was also the constant fight with comma splices, independent clauses, the use of the emdash, endash, hyphen, and semi-colon when splitting two independent clauses in a sentence--whether it would be better to simply make two sentences. Then there are made-up words. Such as the word: Carina. You have to also make up the grammar uses of it. Carina, Carina's, Carinian, Carinian's. You have to know the present and past tense use, and stay consistent with the rules you make up.

This is why I said get a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, and study the heck out of it. The Chicago Manual of Style is the 'Bible' for writers. You will also want to read other style guide books, but always go back to the Chicago Manual of Style. And there is a reason. The Chicago Manual of Style is the rule book that all publishers and editors use. Know it, love it, read it from front to back.

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Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader