First Things First

An Audience of One
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

When editing, you don’t have all the time in the world to fix the innumerable errors that find their way onto your desk. A quick first pass through any text will display glaring errors, but others are far more subtle. Look at this sample:

Nitrogen Dioxide

Nitrogen is an element essential to all life but nitrogen compounds are “extras largely produced thorugh energy consumption. The nitrogen cycle is affected by nitrogen dioxide and when high temperature oxidation and chemical conversions form nitrodgen dioxide physical effects are possible for example N02 forms the depressing brown in smog, irritates our eyes, and blurs our envirnoment. In animal studies, N02 has been also shone to be the most dangerous among the eight nigrogen oxides. Inhaled, N02 reacts quickly with lung tissue and causes cell injury and cell death. Therefore, N02 can cause major damage on lung tissues and cells. Biochemical experiments indicate that the region of the lung most responsible for respiration, the region bounded by the terminal respiratory bronchioles and the alviole, is most affected by inhaled N02.

When I edit, the first corrections I make are to spelling, punctuation, and basic grammar. As long as the basic ideas are in place, they can be rearranged and enhanced later.

Nitrogen is an element essential to all life but nitrogen compounds are extras largely produced through energy consumption. The nitrogen cycle is affected by nitrogen dioxide and when high temperature oxidation and chemical conversions form nitrogen dioxide physical effects are possible. For example, N02 forms the depressing brown in smog, irritates our eyes, and blurs our environment. In animal studies, N02 has been also shown to be the most dangerous among the eight nitrogen oxides. Inhaled, N02 reacts quickly with lung tissue and causes cell injury and cell death. Therefore, N02 can cause major damage on lung tissues and cells. Biochemical experiments indicate that the region of the lung most responsible for respiration, the region bounded by the terminal respiratory bronchioles and the alveoli, is most affected by inhaled N02.

Once the words are right, the ideas can be rearranged to make more sense.

Nitrogen is an element essential to all life. However, nitrogen compounds are extras largely produced through energy consumption. The nitrogen cycle is affected by nitrogen dioxide (NO2). When high temperature oxidation and chemical conversions form nitrogen dioxide, physical effects are possible. For example, N02 forms the brown in smog which irritates our eyes and blurs our environment. In animal studies, N02 has been also shown to be the most dangerous among the eight nitrogen oxides. Inhaled, N02 reacts quickly to cause major damage to lung tissue, causing cell injury and death. Experiments indicate that the regions of the lung most responsible for respiration, the terminal respiratory bronchioles and the alveoli, is most affected by inhaled N02.

After multiple rounds of editing, the result is an article that has been dramatically slimmed down, smoothed out, and simplified.

Nitrogen is an element essential to all life. However, nitrogen compounds are extras largely produced during the energy consumption stage of the nitrogen cycle. Of the eight nitrogen oxides, animal studies have shown nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to be the most dangerous. NO2 is formed by high temperature oxidation and chemical conversions, and is the brown part of smog. It irritates the eyes and blurs our environment. Inhaled, N02 quickly reacts to cause major damage to lung tissue, causing cell injury and death. Experiments indicate that the terminal respiratory bronchioles and alveoli (the regions of the lung most responsible for respiration) are most affected by inhaled N02.

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An Audience of One

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An audience of one person is more than enough.

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