: Re: When editing for a person, how much can be changed? The context is a technical document that is written by one person and then sent out for review by others. The reviewers change word tense,

@Goswami879

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I am a professional editor as well as writer. As other say: It depends. Mostly it's an issue of expectations, since "reviewer" can mean anything from "someone who will admire me whether or not I deserve it" to copy editor (the role wherein the editor is checking for accuracy of spelling, grammar, and -- these days -- URLs) to line editor or development editor (responsible for the article overall, not just the words used).

The "right" answer is a matter of what each of you expect from the other. If you thought someone would make suggestions in the margins (so to speak) using Word's comments feature, or perhaps just an overall evaluation, then I can imagine that you'd be dismayed that they changed the text (for good or ill, though in my experience I've learned that writers often don't recognize you changed anything when they agree with the improvements). Ideally the changes are made in a "revision marking" way so the author can accept or reject them, or at least you can see what terrible things were done to your perfect prose before they're published. In the real world (at least in news-centric journalism) that doesn't always happen, which is one reason that one should choose an editor carefully (which sometimes means, "Get hired by the right person") and establish the ground rules.

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