Being editors is a strange business sometimes. We are dedicated to upholding standards of clarity while also knowing that some standards people use to judge proper English are arbitrary, discriminatory, colonialist, or racist.
Getting it right on this point is very important to us, and we will revisit this issue many times. Coming to us with editing work is often a profoundly vulnerable experience because writing, personal style, and personal voice are all woven together. For this reason, holding up standards without flattening personal preferences is an important responsibility for any editor.
One of the ways we deal with this tension is to be clear with all our clients that “Standard English” is upheld within institutions as an ultimate truth, but it’s just one type of English! Within these institutions, too, they are looking for particular genres of writing. It helps to have an understanding of these genres, when writing a research paper or a cover letter, and to not treat it as especially personal. Different genres expect different buzzwords, sentence structure, and sometimes even punctuation. Typically, our normal speaking and writing voices are full of striking phrases, grammatical inversions, and playfulness. Sometimes that is perfectly reasonable. But typically when writing to a mass audience we shave off some of the more striking edges of people’s writing.
(We think this is a slight misuse of this meme format, but the point is that we do not want editing to lead to the situation depicted above.)
The bottom line is that as long as people are able to convey what they mean in a way that feels seamless to them and the people they are writing for, there is nothing wrong with their writing. People’s voices are unique to them, and standing out as individuals is important in most situations. People’s writing voices are personal, vulnerable things, and it is always a danger that one can steamroll over someone’s unique vocal stylings in search of an arbitrary notion of Standard English.
Ultimately, there is no Standard English! English as a language has, from its start, been a patchwork. This is a great strength, in fact, despite the ways it is sometimes taught. This is our basic attitude. We aim to help you to write clearly, without being overbearing. And that’s tough sometimes, but always worth it!
Join us as we discuss, clarify, and struggle through this issue. It’s a multifaceted one!