Does anyone really edit anymore?

[Pepper Smith]

I've copied and pasted this verbatim from an article off Yahoo:

"There are (sic) not any artificial obstacles for this process," he told ABC News.

Can you tell me what the real problem with this sentence is?

[Brian Hoffman]

In my opinion, there are three major elements to writing fiction.  They are the ability to think up a good story, understanding the structure of a novel, short story, etc, and understanding grammar and spelling.  I'm pretty good at the first and second. Thank god there are editors to help me with the the third.

[Stacy]

Pepper, it is getting ridiculous isn't it? I see basic spelling mistakes on the info part of my cable where they describe the show and the movie! I mean it's pitiful. You're not the only one seeing this. I definitely think people are getting sloppy. I've seen blatant spelling mistakes on the AOL homepage. I know times are tough but if these folks can't afford proofreaders I don't know what to tell them.

I think it comes down to these places cutting costs and cutting people. They probably do one look if that. And don't get me started on signs for businesses. I've seen many misspelled or words used incorrectly.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I think a lot of it is moving too quickly. With the article to write, the social media to let people know about it and the website to update, there's more to do in less time. It's easy to fat-finger a typo and never notice.

[I. J. Parker]

There may be fewer qualified people.  The emphasis in schools is on Math and the sciences.

[Pepper Smith]

What got me about the example I posted wasn't that there were misspelling or anything.  The first part is a direct quote and was probably stated the way it was because the guy who said it wanted to emphasize a particular point.  What got me was that someone apparently did edit the article (hence the 'sic') but didn't realize what they were reading was both correctly spelled and grammatically correct.  There really is nothing at all wrong with the sentence, but the 'editor' seems to have not been well versed enough in English grammar to realize it.

[I. J. Parker]

Right.  As I said, there's nothing quite so upsetting as when an editor crosses out something that is correct and substitutes something that is wrong.