How to make sure that you will not be paid for your work

Want to make sure you won’t be paid for your work? Go to work for any client who does not use standard proofreader’s marks.

Let me put this another way. Whenever you are offered work as a proofreader, do not neglect to ask whether or not the prospective client uses starndard proofreader’s marks. If the answer is anything other than, “Yes, standard proofreader’s marks are de rigeur for this client,” you must decline the job. Ignore the hourly rate offered — which will nearly always be on the high side. Ignore, too, the prestige — or size — of the client.

What on Earth does the use of standard proofreader’s marks have to do with getting paid? Reader, I don’t know. I only know that firms who don’t use them, cannot be relied upon to pay for proofreading services. And that any proofreader who ignores this advice, does so at her peril.

When to use serial commas: totem and taboo

Always ask your client its preference: serial commas or not? If no preference, the governing criterion for the serial comma would be, which style guide does the client prefer? If the Chicago Manual, then, serial commas OK. If AP, serial commas, not.

If there be no preferred style guide, here is the rule of thumb. If your client or employer is an American over the age of 40, do not use serial commas. American schools in the last century taught that the last element in a series should not be preceded by a comma. Otherwise, use serial commas.

The important thing here is that you — as a working proofreader — want to avoid being the ultimate authority. As any experienced proofreader already knows, second-guessing the proofreader is the blood sport of support staff. Staff would waste time challenging your discretion. You may be tempted to waste time defending it. The best tack is to refer to higher authority — especially a printed book — which obtains even more totemic authority among non-readers than it does among readers.

Online, serial commas are more than a matter of style. International readers may be accustomed to logical — rather than ornamental — punctuation; they would appreciate the serial comma. Also, online publications are read by machines — such as search engines — and machines can parse logical punctuation more easily than ornamental punctuation.

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Totems are chosen arbitrarily for the sole purpose of making the physical world a comprehensive and coherent classificatory system — Claude Lévi-Strauss, author of Totemism.

Totem and Taboo is a book by Sigmund Freud

Serial commas: neither Oxford nor Harvard

A serial comma is — and ought to be — called a “serial comma.” Nearly everyone will grasp — or be able to guess — what it is. Clear communication is among a proofreader’s goals.

Do not call it an “Oxford comma,” or a “Harvard comma,” or any other fanciful nonsense. The use of those old school names sounds either pejorative — a suggestion that the thing is old-fashioned — or pretentious. In either case, it will be necessary to explain what you mean, which will be a waste of your time.