Argh.

[jenn_unplugged]

I despise reading over copy-edited text, because I invariably disagree with the choices the copy-editor made regarding punctuation. Here are two examples from the first page of my chapter:

"Mathematics educators and mathematicians have recently begun to reconsider the university mathematics preparation of teachers, paying careful attention to the development of knowledge of mathematics for teaching; an understanding of the underlying processes and structures of concepts, relationships between different areas of mathematics, and knowledge of students' ways of thinking and mathematical backgrounds."

They replaced the colon I put there with that red semi-colon, but that doesn't make sense because the text after the semi-colon cannot stand on its own. That text is intended to be a definition of the term "knowledge of mathematics for teaching". WTF?

Here's another: "It may be that carefully guided experiences in novel and unfamiliar contexts such as those afforded by elementary number theory, can help pre-service teachers develop a more sophisticated mathematical perspective, as well as a deeper understanding of the mathematics they will be teaching."

The red comma was added, which makes no sense. It either needs to be deleted or a matching comma should be added at the beginning of the "marked off" text, after the word "contexts".

It makes me look like a bad writer when they insist on using incorrect punctuation, you know?

*headdesk*

ETA: I just noticed that the header on the odd pages reads "11. RIVISITING ALGEBRA" instead of Revisiting Algebra. OMG, who are these people?

ETA 2: On the other hand, I wrote crap like this: "When the class was working on a problem, about half of the students were typically listening intently, offering suggestions, while the other half, bent over their notebooks and calculators, worked on the problem on their own." *winces* Comma happy, Jenn?

Comments

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

They are both WHOLLY wrong. Is this book already published?

[teleute.livejournal.com]

Usually the only thing you have to worry about in a math textbook is that the editors don't understand math, and thus fail to correct mathematical errors. I'm sorry you managed to find the editors that don't understand English either. *hugs*

[glasshouses.livejournal.com]

Am I mixing up colon and semicolon? I thought the text after a colon HAD to stand on its own, but not after a semicolon.

The comma distorts your sentence.

[abbycadabra.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I wrote crap like this: "When the class was working on a problem, about half of the students were typically listening intently, offering suggestions, while the other half, bent over their notebooks and calculators, worked on the problem on their own." *winces*

Bah! I read this, and I was like, "What's wrong with that?" I will never learn!

As for all the other copy editing drama, I wouldn't stress too badly about how your grammar skillz come off. Nine out of ten people STILL don't know how to properly use a semi-colon. They are the least important of the puncuation family, and Papa Period should have done us all a favor and left the semi-colon out in the cold as soon as he laid eyes on it.

[(Anonymous)]

The semicolon error was merely bad; the comma error actually made me make a horrified noise out loud. *g* I'm so sorry you have to go through this crap! Yack!