Substantial Revisions:

Before you begin your editing process with a bird’s-eye view of the whole document, it might be
a good idea to step away from it altogether. Distancing yourself from the work you just drafted
helps you approach it again with fresh eyes. This requires effective time management so that
you have a solid draft ready well ahead of a deadline.

Alienating yourself from your own work helps give you the critical distance necessary to be more
ruthless towards it than you are at the drafting stage. You cling too personally to the words you
come up with at the drafting stage, whereas you would be more critical of the same words if
they were written by someone else. Creating that critical distance helps you:

1: Rearrange the order that you originally plotted out at the outlining step (see §4.2 above) if
need be.

2: Recognize gaps that must be filled with yet more draft material

3: Chop out parts that don’t contribute to the purpose you set out to achieve, difficult as it may
be to delete words that you labored into being.

When considering how your draft meets the objectives you set out to achieve at the outset (see
Step 1.1 of the writing process in §2.1 above), use a few different lenses to assess that
achievement.

Evaluate for Corresponding Step in the Drafting

Process

1. Content Laying down content in the researching stage

(Ch. 3)

2. Organization Organizing that material (§4.1–§4.2)

3. Style Stylizing it into effective sentences and

paragraphs (§4.3, §4.4, §4.5)

4. Readability Adding document design features (§4.6)

When reading with these lenses after taking a break from your work, approach it more critically
as if you were the reader you’re catering to (§2.2), not as the words’ sentimental and protective
parent.

When evaluating for content, consider what your audience needs to see for understanding the
topic. Ask yourself if your coverage is thorough, or if you’ve left gaps that would confuse your
target audience. Have you given your audience more than what they need so that your
document would overwhelm them? More specifically, have you fact-checked all of your
information to ensure that it is true and, if based on sources that must be documented,
accurately cited and referenced?

When evaluating for organization, consider the flow of content to determine if the document
leads the reader through to the intended understanding of the topic. Is it clear that you’re taking
the direct approach (see §4.1.1 above) by getting right to the point when you need to do so, or
is it obvious that you’re taking the indirect approach as necessary (§4.1.2)? Would it be clear to
your reader what organizing principle you’ve followed (§4.1.3)? When you outlined your draft in
Step 3.2 of the writing process (§4.2), you did so from a preliminary understanding of your topic.
As you drafted your message, do you see that something you first thought made sense near the
end of your draft makes more sense at the beginning?

When evaluating for readability, consider your audience’s needs in terms of the many features
that frame and divide the text so that your reader doesn’t get lost, confused, overwhelmed,
repulsed, or bored. Check for whether you can do the following:
-Clarify titles
-Add headings or subheadings to break up large chunks of text
-Use lists to enable readers to skim over several items
-Add visuals to complement your written descriptions

The conclusions you draw from these evaluations will help inform and motivate you towards the
substantial revisions explained below.

Reorganizing Your Draft:

When you first move into a new apartment or house, you have a general idea of where all your
furniture should go based on where it was in your previous place. After a few days, however,
you may realize that the old arrangement doesn’t make as much sense in the new layout. A new
arrangement would be much more practical. The same is true of your document’s organization
once you’ve completed a working draft. You may realize that your original outline plan doesn’t
flow as well as you thought it would now that you’ve learned more about the topic in the process
of writing on it.

Adding to your Draft:

In furnishing your new apartment or house, especially if it’s larger than what you had before,
you’ll find that merely transplanting your old furniture isn’t enough. The new space now has
gaps that need to be filled—a chair here, a couch there, perhaps a rug to tie the whole room
together. Likewise, you’ll find when writing a document that gaps need to be filled with more
detail.

Trimming your Draft:

As #2 in the 6 Cs of good writing (see §4.5.2.2 above), conciseness means using the fewest
words possible to achieve the goal of communication, which is for your reader to understand
your intended meaning (see §1.2 above).
The first trick to paring down your writing is to really want to make every word count and to see
excess words as grotesque indulgence. So, pretend that words are expensive. If you had to pay
a cent of your own money for every character you wrote in a document that you had to print
1,000 copies of, you would surely adopt a frugal writing style. You would then see that adding
unnecessary words is doubly wasteful because time is money.

1: Mass-Delete Whatever Doesn’t Belong:

The first practical step towards trimming your document is a large-scale purge of whatever
doesn’t contribute to the purpose you set out to achieve. The order is important because you
don’t want to do any fine-tooth-comb proof-editing on anything that you’re just going to delete
anyway. This is probably the most difficult action to follow through on because it means deleting
large swaths of writing that may have taken some time and effort to compose.

2: Delete Long Lead-ins:

The next-biggest savings come from deleting lead-ins that you wrote to gear up towards your
main point. In ordinary speech, we use lead-ins as something like throat-clearing exercises. In
writing, however, these are useless at best because they state the obvious. At worst, lead-ins
immediately repulse the reader by signaling that the rest of the message will contain some time-
wasting verbiage. If you see the following crossed-out expressions or anything like them in your
writing, just delete them.

3: Pare Down Unnecessarily Wordy Phrases:

We habitually sprinkle long stock phrases into everyday speech because they sound fancy
merely because they’re long and sometimes old-fashioned, as if length and long-time use grants
respectability (it doesn’t). These phrases look ridiculously cumbersome when seen next to their
more concise equivalent words and phrases, as you can see in Table 5.1.4.3 below. Unless you
have good reason to do otherwise, always replace the former with the latter in your writing.

Replace These Wordy Phrases with These Concise Equivalents

at this present moment in time now

in any way, shape, or form in any way

pursuant to your request as requested

thanking you in advance thank you

in addition to the above also

in spite of the fact that even though / although

in view of the fact that because / since

are of the opinion that believe that / think that

 afford an opportunity allow

despite the fact that though

during the time that while

due to the fact that because / since

at a later date/time later

until such time as until

in the near future soon

fully cognizant of aware of

fully cognizant of if

for the period of for

attached hereto attached

each and every all

in as much as because / since

more or less about

feel free to please

4: Delete Redundant Words:

Simply delete the crossed-out words if they appear in combination with the remaining word:
● absolutely essential (you can’t get any more essential than essential)
● future plans (are you going to make plans about the past? plans are always future)
● small in size (the context will determine that you mean small in size, quantity, etc.)
● refer back to
● in order to (only use “in order” if it helps distinguish an infinitive phrase, which begins
with “to,” from the preposition “to” appearing close to it)
● each and every or each and every (or just “all,” as we saw in Table 5.1.4.3 above)
● repeat again (is this déjà vu?)
● cooperate together
5: Delete Filler Expressions & Words:
If you audio-record your conversations and make a transcript of just the words themselves,
you’ll find an abundance of filler words and expressions that you could do without and your
sentences would still mean the same thing. A few common ones that appear at the beginning of
sentences are “There is,” “There are,” and “It is,” which must be followed by a relative clause
starting with the relative pronoun that or who. Consider the following, for example:

1. There are many who want to take Many want to take your place.
your place.

2. There is nothing you can do about You can do nothing about it.
it.

3. It is the software that keeps The software keeps erring.

making the error.

6: Delete Needless Adverbs

Streamline your writing by purging the filler adverbs that you pepper your conversational speech
with. In writing, these add little meaning.

7: Favor Short, Plain Words and Use Jargon Selectively

If you pretend that every character in each word you write costs money from your own pocket,
you would do what readers prefer: use shorter words. The beauty of plain words is that they are
more understandable and draw less attention to themselves than big, fancy words while still
getting the point across. This is especially true when your audience includes ESL readers.
Obviously, you would use jargon for precision when appropriate for your audience’s needs and
your own.

Big, Fancy Words Short, Plain Options

advantageous helpful

ameliorate improve

cognizant aware

commence begin, start

consolidate combine
8: Simplify Verbs
Yet another way that people overcomplicate their writing involves expressing the action in as
many words as possible, such as by using the passive voice (see §4.3.4 above), continuous
tenses, and nominalizations.

Continuous Verb Forms Simple Verb Forms

I was writing a letter to her. I wrote a letter to her.

I had been writing a letter to her. I had written a letter to her.

I have been writing a letter to her. I have written a letter to her

I would have been writing a letter to I would have written a letter to her.
her.

I am writing a letter to her. I wrote a letter to her.

Proofreading for Grammar

Sentence Errors
1: Comma Splices
2: Run-on Sentences
3: Sentence Fragments

Grammar Errors
1: Subject-Verb Disagreement
Perhaps the most common grammatical error is subject-verb disagreement, which is when you
pair a singular subject noun with a plural verb (usually ending without an s) instead of a singular
one (usually ending with an s), or vice versa. Spotting such disagreements of number requires
being able to identify the subject noun and main verb of every sentence and hence knowledge
of sentence structure (see §4.3.1 and §4.3.2 above).

Rule 1.1: Singular subjects take singular verbs.

Rule 1.2: The indefinite pronouns each, either, neither, and those
ending with -body or -one takes a singular verb.
Rule 1.3: Collective nouns and some irregular nouns with plural
endings are singular and take a singular verb.

Rule 2: Plural noun, compound noun, and plural indefinite pronoun

subjects take plural verbs.
Rule 3: Compound subjects joined by or or nor take verbs that agree
in number with the nouns closest to them.

Rule 4: The verb in clauses beginning with there or here agrees with
the subject noun following the verb.

2: Pronoun Errors

3: Faulty Parallelism

4. Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

Proofreading for Punctuation

As the little marks added between words, punctuation is like a system of traffic signs: it guides
the reader towards the intended meaning of the words just as road signs guide drivers to their
destination. They tell the reader when to go, when to pause, when to stop, when to go again,
when to pay close attention, and when to turn (Truss, 2003, p. 7). They’re also crucial for
avoiding accidents. A paragraph without punctuation—no periods, commas, apostrophes, etc.—
quickly spins out into utter nonsense and kills the reader’s understanding of the writer’s
meaning.

Punctuation that’s merely missing or unnecessary here and there can confuse a reader and
even lead to expensive lawsuits if they plague contentious documents like contracts. To anyone
who knows how to use them, seeing punctuation mistakes in someone else’s writing makes that
other person look sloppy and amateurish. Punctuation errors by adult native English speakers
look especially bad because they reflect poorly on their education and attention to detail,
especially if they’re habitual mistakes.

Comma Rule 1.1, Put a comma before coordinating conjunctions in

compound sentences.
“The installers came to do their work at 8am, and the
regulators came to inspect the installation by the end of the
day.”

Comma Rule 1.2, Don’t put a comma between independent clauses in a

compound sentence if not followed by a coordinating
conjunction.
Our main concern is patient safety; we don’t want any
therapeutic intervention to cause harm. (semicolon rather
than a comma after “safety”)
Comma Rule 2.1, Put a comma after introductory subordinate clauses,
phrases, or words preceding main clauses.
If we can’t secure investor funding and launch the site by
April, the clients will likely go elsewhere.

Comma Rule 2.2, Don’t put a comma after main clauses followed by
subordinate clauses or phrases unless the latter strikes a
contrast with the former.
They’re paying us a visit because they haven’t seen us in a
while. (no comma before “because”)

Comma Rule 3.1, Put commas around parenthetical words, phrases, or

clauses.
See my portfolio, which includes my best work, on ArtStation.

Comma Rule 3.2, Put a comma before contrasting coordinate elements, end-
of-sentence shifts, and omitted repetitions.
He said, “go to Customer Service, not the checkout,” didn’t
he?

Comma Rule 3.3, Put a comma before sentence-ending free-modifier phrases

that describe elements at the beginning or middle of
sentences.
We are putting in long hours on the report, writing
frantically.

Comma Rule 3.4, Put commas around higher levels of organization in dates,
places, addresses, names, and numbers.
Send your ticket to Gina Kew, RN, in Ottawa, Ontario, by
Tuesday, October 9, 2018, for your chance to win the
$5,000,000 prize.

Comma Rule 3.5, Put a comma between a signal phrase and a quotation.
The reporter replied, “Yes, this is strictly off the record.”

Comma Rule 3.6, Don’t put commas around restrictive relative clauses
(before that).
The purchased item that we agreed to return is now
completely lost. (no comma before “that” and after “return”)

Comma Rule 3.7, Don’t put commas between subjects and their predicates.
The just reward for the difficult and dangerous job that Kyle
performed for his clientele was the knowledge that they were
safe. (no comma before “was”)

Comma Rule 4.1, Put commas between each item in a series, including the
last two items.
You must be kind, conscientious, and caring in this line of
work.

Comma Rule 4.2, Put commas between two or more coordinate adjectives.
It was a cool, crisp, bright autumn morning.
 Comma Rule 4.3, Don’t put a comma after the final coordinate adjective.
The team devised a daring, ambitious plan. (no comma after
“ambitious”)

Comma Rule 4.4, Don’t put a comma between non-coordinate adjectives.

David played his Candy Apple Red ’57 reissue Fender
Stratocaster electric guitar like he was flying a Saturn V
rocket to the moon. (no comma between the non-coordinate
adjectives throughout)

Comma Rule 4.5, Don’t put commas between two coordinate nouns or verbs.
Tesla and Edison invented and patented a complete circuit of
electricity distribution systems and consumption devices. (no
commas before any “and” here)

Apostrophe Rule 1.1’ Put an apostrophe before the s ending a singular

possessive noun.
Jenna’s goal is to find a money manager who can diversify
her portfolio.

Apostrophe Rule 1.2’ Don’t put an apostrophe at the end of a simple plural
noun.
Corben put on his glasses to see the looks on their faces.
(no apostrophe at the end of “glasses,” “looks,” or
“faces”).

Apostrophe Rule 2.1’ Put an apostrophe after the s ending a plural possessive
noun.
All three companies’ bids for the contract were rejected.

Apostrophe Rule 2.2’ Don’t put an apostrophe before the s ending a non-
possessive plural decade.
The corporation was in the black back in the 1940s. (no
apostrophe between the 0 and s in “1940s”)

Apostrophe Rule 3’ Put an apostrophe where letters are omitted in

contractions.
You’re saying that it’s not a mistake if they’re doing it
twice?

Apostrophe Rule 4’ Put an apostrophe before a plural s following single

letters.
Mind your p’s and q’s, son.

Colons
Colons and semicolons are often confused because of the similarities in both their names and
form, though they perform quite different punctuation roles. A colon looks like a period stacked
on top of another and is mainly used to equate information on either side of it somewhat like an
equals sign (=) in math. A semicolon, on the other hand, looks like a period stacked on top of a
comma. The semicolon usually separates independent clauses from one another in a
compound sentence as an alternative to using a comma and a conjunction.

Colon Rule 1.1: Put a colon at the end of a clause or phrase introducing a list.
NASA built six space shuttles: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger,
Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Colon Rule 1.2: Put a colon at the end of an opening salutation in formal
emails and letters.
Dear Ms. O’Reilly:

Colon Rule 2.1: Put a colon between an explanation and its introductory
independent clause.
The error in our prototype led to the solution of quite another
problem: how to stabilize the transducer.

Colon Rule 2.2: Put a colon between a quotation and its introductory
independent clause if the latter is a complete sentence.
What they were actually saying was much simpler: “Either give
us the money up front, or we won’t install the program.”

Colon Rule 2.3: Don’t put a colon before a list or explanation preceded by a
fragment.
Their three best albums are Fully Completely, Day for Night, and
Trouble at the Henhouse. (no colon after “are”)

Colon Rule 3.1: Put a colon between a main title and its subtitle.
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Colon Rule 3.2: Put a colon between publisher locations and names in
bibliographical references.
Toronto: Nelson

Colon Rule 3.3: Put a colon between numbers in ratios and times.
There’s a 3:1 chance that the experiment will end before the
8:23:40 mark.

Semicolon Rule 1; Put a semicolon between related independent clauses to

make a compound sentence.
Yes, we finished the marketing report you asked for; it’s printed
and bound in your departmental mailbox.

Semicolon Rule 2; Put a semicolon between sub-lists in a series of lists in a

sentence.
Italicize words, phrases, and clauses for emphasis or when you
refer to them as such; the titles of books, albums, feature-
length films, and websites; and ships, named aircraft, and other
 named vehicles.

Semicolon Rule 3; Don’t put a semicolon where a colon should be used.

We can be thankful for what Oscar taught us: that being kind
to our canine companions brings immense joy to our lives.
(colon used after “us” to set up an explanation, not a
semicolon)

(Parentheses Rule 1.1) Put parentheses around qualifying interjections of

lesser importance within and between sentences.
He put the folder (the green one, not the blue) in the
filing cabinet thinking it was a client file rather than an
administrative one.

(Parentheses Rule 1.2) Don’t use parentheses where parenthetical commas

would do. He put the green folder, not the blue one, in the
filing cabinet. (commas used instead of parentheses)

Parentheses Rule 2 Put parentheses around in-text citations crediting

research sources in APA and MLA documentation styles.
Cellphones are giving youths neck and back problems
typically seen in much older people (Cuéllar & Lanman,
2017).

Brackets Rule 1.1 Put brackets around changes or additions to the wording of
quotations.
He clearly wrote that “The contract [was] for $1.2 million [CDN]
over five years” back in 2012.

Brackets Rule 1.2 Don’t put brackets around what should have parentheses.
There’s no law of physics (at least not technically) that keeps
top athletes from running the 100m in under 9 seconds.
(parentheses appropriate instead of brackets)

Brackets Rule 2 Put brackets around parenthetical elements within

parentheses.
We didn’t have a clue what was causing the issue (we scoured
the troubleshooting manual [Brulé, 2012]), so they shut it
down.

Brackets Rule 3 Put brackets around numerical in-text citations crediting

research sources when required to use IEEE style.
Cellphones are giving youth neck and back problems typically
seen in much older people [1].
Compound-Modifier Hyphens
The most common use of hyphens is for compound modifiers—that is, two or more adjectives
that must be read in combination before a noun they describe. In fact, the hyphen you see
between “compound” and “modifier” in the sentence above exemplifies how this works: since
both of those words together (and in that order only) modify the noun “hyphen” (“modify”
meaning that they tell you what kind of hyphen it is), the hyphen helps the reader identify which
words functions as modifiers and which as nouns, since “modifier” in this case behaves as an
adjective rather than a noun. Without the hyphen, the reader might make the mistake of taking
“modifier hyphen” as a compound noun, as in the case of “small business owners” above.

Noun Examples Not Following a Noun

bottom- bottom-feeding fish Those fish are bottom feeding.
or top-shelf liquor All your liquor is top-shelf.
top- top-tier player The players we churn out are all top-tier.

high- high-calibre bullet Most of the bullets found were high

or low-cost solution calibre.
low- high-fidelity sound Let’s find a solution that’s low-cost.
low-life criminal I want a sound that’s more high fidelity.
high-quality products He is a total low-life.
low-resolution screen We ship products that are mostly high
quality.
Don’t use pictures with low resolution.

self- self-driven woman She is very self-driven.

self-inflicted wound We don’t treat wounds that are self-
self-motivated boy inflicted.
self-taught pilot He is not self-motivated enough.
I am totally self-taught.

well- well-known solution The solution is very well known.

well-thought-out plan My plan is very well thought out.
well-trained army We’re no match for an army so well
well-written letter trained.
Only send the letter if it is well written.

Exception: Don’t add hyphens after adverbs ending in -ly.

Prefix Examples Not Following a Noun

all- all-inclusive resort Let’s just go to an all-inclusive.
all-powerful tech giant Google’s dominance has made it all-
all-out offensive powerful.
We sent everyone so our offensive was all-
out.
 Preposition Examples Without a Noun
Following
-at- Stay-at-home mom You work and I’ll just stay at
home.

-by- case-by-case basis We’re just taking it case by

six-by-six rule case.
Follow the rule called “six by
six”

-for- word-for-word translation Don’t copy word for word.

-of- Cost-of-living index The cost of living is always

Out-of-province funding rising.
The funding came from out
of province.

-on- one-on-one game Let’s play one on one.

-to- Back-to-back classes My two classes today are

business-to-business retailer back to back.
coast-to-coast flight Our sales are B2B (business
easy-to-follow presentation to business).
up-to-date calendar I’m flying coast to coast
tonight.
Your presentation was very
easy to follow.
My calendar is all up to date.

Examples Without a Noun Following

Long-drawn-out affair The affairs would all be long drawn out.

Off-the-charts happiness I wish you happiness that is totally off the charts.

On-the-job training All of the training will be done on the job.

Examples Without a Noun Following

Avant-garde filmmaker His latest film is more avant garde.

Laissez-faire capitalism Our approach is fairly laissez faire.

Don’t hyphenate more recently imported foreign phrases that are still italicized.
Noun Examples Without a Noun
Following
-class first-class cabin I’m going first class.
second-class citizen They treated me like I was
economy-class seating second class.
We bought economy class.

-degree first-degree burns I had burns in only the first

degree.

-interest Special-interest groups All of those groups are special

interest.

-ready Game-ready athlete All of our kids are game-ready.

Job-ready graduate My training makes me fully job-
ready.

-scale Large-scale project I’ve never done a project this

large scale.

-time full-time job She works full time.

half-time show Let’s talk about it at half time.
part-time employment We work part time on
weekends.

Past Participle Examples Not Following the Noun

-based evidence-based treatment The treatment is evidence-
faith-based reasoning based.
The programming is all faith-
based.

-bodied Able-bodied teenager You’re able-bodied enough.

-capped Snow-capped mountains The mountains are nicely

snow-capped

-edged double-edged sword That sword is doubled edged.

Present Participle Examples Not Following the

 Noun
-bearing child-bearing hips These hips are child-bearing.
load-bearing walls Don’t remove walls that are
load bearing.

-ending never-ending happiness I hope your happiness is

never ending.

-jerking Tear-jerking performance The performance was tear-

jerking.

-making decision-making process I’m good at decision

making.

-sharing profit-sharing plan Profit sharing is a strong

incentive.

Preposition Examples Not Following the

Noun
-after sought-after jobs These jobs are highly
sought-after.

-by drive-by shooting Last night’s shooting was a

drive-by.

-down Trickle-down economics That wealth didn’t quite

trickle down.

-out All-out war The war went all-out after a

year.

-up made-up names Those names sound so

built-up neighborhood made up.
The area is more built up
now.

Duration Examples Not Following the

Noun
-day Five-day trial period The trial period lasts five
days.

-hour Eleventh-hour bid The bid came in the

eleventh hour.
 -minute 25-minute presentation The presentation lasted 25
minutes.

-month Ten-month term The term ends after ten

months.

-second Nine-second sprint He finished in under ten

seconds.

-week 32-week co-op term The co-op term is 32 weeks.

-year Four-year degree program An applied degree takes four

years.

Compound Adjective Numbers

Two-thirds majority two thirds of the respondents

Two-year-old child the child is two years old

I’ve got ninety-nine problems, and Pass the puck to number ninety-nine.
grammar ain’t one.

Suspended Hyphens

The 12- and 13-year-old kids the kids are 12 and 13 years old

The well-known and -loved song the song became well known and
loved

How to treat first-, second-, and the burns were first, second, and
third-degree burns third degree.

Prefixes:
● Big hair in the mid-1980s
● Populism results in new accusations of anti-Americanism (because “America” is
capitalized)
● My ex-girlfriend and I haven’t spoken in a decade
● I re-wrote the essay
● e-mail
Not with adverbs ending in -ly
Compound Nouns
Unit Examples Not Following a Noun
-hours Kilowatt-hours I’ve racked up a few kilowatt-hours
Work-hours this winter.
This project should take about 20
work-hours.

-miles air-miles Do you collect air-miles?

-year light-year The next star is about _ light-

years away.

Proofreading for Spelling

With the help of technology such as spellcheck features in Microsoft Word and online apps, as
well as auto-correct and -complete on mobile devices, we can be better spellers than ever. We
also must be better spellers than ever because, assuming we’re making full use of these
technological aides, audience expectations demand impeccable, error-free spelling.

*Using technology close at hand to improve your spelling is crucial to helping you get
there.

Spelling Names
How do you feel when someone misspells your name? If you’re like most people, you feel a little
insulted, especially if the offending person had easy access to the correct spelling. Spelling
people’s names correctly is not only an essential principle of netiquette, but also key to
maintaining your credibility in correspondence.
*Be especially vigilant with names during the proofreading stage of the writing process
and use technology to help.

Spelling Homophones

Many spelling errors involve homophones, words that sound the same in speech but are spelled
and used differently in writing. When you mean there but write their or they’re in your draft, a
sophisticated grammar and spellchecker will mark it as an error because it’s incorrect in the
context of the words around it despite being spelled correctly on its own.

Proofreading for Mechanics

The very last target for proofreading as you finalize your draft for submission is mechanics. In
English writing, mechanics relates to typographic style such as the choice between
UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, italics or boldface type and plain style, as well as using
figures (e.g., 1, 2, 3) or written out numbers (e.g., one, two, three). Professionals follow stylistic
conventions for mechanics much like they do punctuation rules.