6.24.2011

ace

i'm all for not confusing the reader, but this tennis story by diane pucin of the times (whose writing has not been too offensive in the past) screamed out at me. here are the first few lines:

Andy Roddick is a huge favorite at Wimbledon. Fans appreciate his personality and the effort he gives, especially after Roddick lost 16-14 in the fifth set of the finals two years ago to Roger Federer.
And when Roddick skipped this year's French Open, partly to let heal a sore shoulder, and partly because, as he says, he's realistic about the fact that at 28 years old and with his legs slowing down, Roddick has little chance of doing well on clay, it seemed fair to believe Roddick when he said he was a contender here.

leaving aside the meandering and comma-laden second graf for now, let's consider the use of pronouns (or lack thereof). as an editor, i would eliminate the second, fourth, and fifth use of "Roddick." much smoother flow, in my opinion, and i'm doubtful anyone would think pucin is referring to someone else. let's move rog up in the first graf to avoid splitting "lost" and "to." fix up the awkward shoulder-healing phrase. i'd also throw in some em dashes in the second graf (a somewhat controversial move, apparently, although i feel they can help the reader experience the sentence as the author intended, if used appropriately), and touch up the 28-year-old with old legs bit. i'm not too sure what his skipping the french open has to do with whether we believe he's a contender at wimbledon, but let's see how it looks with my changes:

Andy Roddick is a huge favorite at Wimbledon. Fans appreciate his personality and the effort he gives, especially after he lost to Roger Federer 16-14 in the fifth set of the finals two years ago.
And when Roddick skipped this year's French Open—partly to rest a sore shoulder and partly because, as he says, he's realistic about the fact that as a 28-year-old with slowing legs, he has little chance of doing well on clay—it seemed fair to believe him when he said he was a contender here.

there's your grammar/editing lesson for the day. i'm sure plenty of people would do it differently, but that's my take. any complaints?

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