| Often when we are editing, we come across | | | | fearless. He walked into his boss’s office." This |
| sentences that we can revise in several ways. | | | | proxy sentence, like option two, is two short |
| When we cannot easily select a particular revision, | | | | sentences divided by a period. |
| we employ a strategy we call R & R, which | | | | When examining these two proxy sentences, we |
| stands for "Rephrase and Replace." | | | | noticed that each one conveyed a slightly |
| Rephrasing the sentence is creating a new | | | | different meaning. The first one seemed to |
| sentence that follows the same sentence | | | | indicate fearlessness during a specific event. The |
| structure as the original and that contains the | | | | second one seemed to indicate a general |
| same problematic words. We do this so that we | | | | fearlessness, and, perhaps, an example of that |
| can evaluate the structure and word choice in a | | | | fearlessness. We believe that the first meaning |
| simpler, easier to understand sentence. | | | | was more representative of the author’s |
| For example, we were recently revising a | | | | intention than the second. |
| sentence and came up with two options. Option | | | | This completed the rephrasing part of this |
| one was "The book is fearless as it rips through | | | | strategy. |
| the veils of illusion." Option two was "The book is | | | | Replacing means replacing the words of the |
| fearless. It rips through the veils of illusion." We | | | | rephrased sentence with the applicable words |
| were having a difficult time deciding which option | | | | from the original sentence, while keeping the |
| we preferred. The main reason we were having a | | | | same sentence structure. Thus, we replaced the |
| hard time deciding is that the context of the | | | | words "The man" with the words "The book," and |
| sentence was unfamiliar to us. | | | | the words "he walked into his boss’s office" |
| We used the Rephrase part of this strategy to | | | | with the words "rips through the veils of illusion." |
| rephrase each option, giving them a more familiar | | | | Having used the Rephrase and Replace strategy |
| context. The first option is one long sentence with | | | | we were able to make our choice: "The book is |
| two parts joined by the word "as". We | | | | fearless as it rips through the veils of illusion." |
| rephrased this as, "The man was fearless as he | | | | When you edit your writing, see if the R & R |
| walked into his boss's office," because we wanted | | | | strategy is useful to you. This simple strategy has |
| to simplify the context. This proxy (i.e., substitute) | | | | helped us revise unclear writing into |
| sentence, like option one, is one long sentence | | | | easy-to-understand writing. It has also helped us |
| with two parts joined by the word "as." The | | | | determine which potential revision, among several, |
| second option is two short sentences divided by a | | | | will most effectively communicate the author's |
| period. We rephrased this as, "The man was | | | | meaning. |