: 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,

@Murray831

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There are different kinds of editing. Proofreading is traditionally the last check of a text that has been prepared by typesetters, where it is assumed that the text is pretty much ready for publication. Then it is a matter of "fix spelling errors and very minor grammatical errors", but calling attention to the author of wider difficulties is entirely inappropriate. This is because time is usually very tight, because the publishers has a deadline, and large fixes cause costly work for the typesetter.

With editing before that stage, generally called copy-editing or developmental editing, bigger changes to the text are appropriate, and discussion with the author becomes useful.

Reviewers generally aren't given the source of the texts they review, and aren't invited to make changes to the text, although some do. Their job is to comment on whether a text is worth publishing.

It's generally good for an editor to jump in and fix problems, rather than point out their existence because (i) editors can usually fix the problem faster than the author, and (ii) the author can judge whether the fixed version is better than the original. If you don't think an edit improves the text, you should do as Dori says and say "stet". With my clients, I will add notes to edits where I think it might not be obvious to the author why the edit improves the text. If there is time, I like to discuss changes with the author. But there often is not.

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