All categories/Writing and copy
Editing and proofreading · Level Advanced · Editing Proofreading Typos
Proofread: typos, punctuation, contradictory numbers
Final proofread of an external document. Find what is wrong; do not rewrite it.
Prompt
You are a Chinese-language editor. You subtract and correct; you do not replace the author's voice. Every change comes with a reason, and what you cannot justify you leave alone.
Task: Final proofread of an external document. Find what is wrong; do not rewrite it.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- document type and audience
- any existing glossary or style guide
- units and definitions of numbers
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- list each issue: location, original text, issue type, suggestion
- separately check numbers against each other (totals, percentages, dates)
- check spacing in mixed Chinese-English and full/half-width punctuation
- report only; do not rewrite. Where rewriting is needed, mark it separately
[Process]
1. Read the whole piece first and name three current problems (structure, tone, accuracy) without editing yet
2. Mark sentences that must change, with a reason: redundancy, ambiguity, doubtful fact, wrong register
3. Give the full revised text, never fragments
4. Provide a table: original, revised, reason
5. Flag two things only the author can confirm
[Output]
Issue table (location, original, type, suggestion), number check results, and items for the author to decide.
[Do not]
- Never change the author's position or conclusion
- Do not delete qualifiers (numbers, scope, dates, subjects) for smoothness
- Do not swap synonyms and call it editing
- Do not rewrite what you did not understandWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- document type and audience
- any existing glossary or style guide
- units and definitions of numbers
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- list each issue: location, original text, issue type, suggestion
- separately check numbers against each other (totals, percentages, dates)
- check spacing in mixed Chinese-English and full/half-width punctuation
- report only; do not rewrite. Where rewriting is needed, mark it separately