If only we could alter some writers’ bad habits regarding the words amend and emend!
Amend is a verb meaning to change, usually for the better or to at least set something right. For example, The Los Angeles City Council plans to amend the city charter.
Emend is a verb meaning to improve by editing and typically is limited to text. To wit, The New York City mayor’s secretary planned to emend his letter by adding a comma.
Hopefully, you now will not not need to emend your first draft when either of these words appear in your manunscripts!
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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