How to Edit Tough ESL Documents Without Panicking

One added benefit of being a Kibin editor is knowing you’re helping international students and ESL writers learn English. While this thought can be heartwarming, a first look at some ESL papers can be heart-stopping instead. But it doesn’t have to be! Here are eight tips for editing tough-to-read ESL documents:

Don’t panic. Many editors’ first instinct is to freak out or drop the document. Don’t worry--you’ve got this, and you'll feel like a superhero once you've worked your magic. First, look at the document holistically: Assess the document type and who the audience might be. Is it a cover letter? An academic assignment? Email correspondence? Ascertaining the purpose of the document and its central ideas will help you keep the objective top of mind while you’re grinding through syntax errors.
Periods go first. ESL writers can tend towards long, never ending, run-on sentences. That means your first objective is figuring out where sentences should end and begin. It’s helpful to break up a stretch of run-on sentences by adding punctuation first, and then go back and clean up the grammar/phrasing with a better grasp of the information that belongs together.
Proper prepositions. One very obvious marker of ESL writing is incorrect prepositions; you'll often find an "on" where an "in" should be or an "at" instead of a "to." This doesn't seem like a big deal, but when a document is full of incorrect prepositions, deciphering the text can be really confusing if you're not looking for those errors. When you're having trouble understanding a sentence, a different preposition might be the key to unlocking the author’s intent.
Find mixed-up or missing articles. Does the author misuse "the" and "a/an"? Are they left out all together? Missing or misused articles are a very common occurrence in ESL writing. Try adding in an article or two if you’re stumped. Once you figure out this tendency, making sense out of nonsensical sentences is a breeze. You can also direct the user to this blog post to help them out in the future.
Identify pluralization and subject/verb agreement errors. Watch out for plurals that should be singular and singular words that should be plural. Whether to include that pesky little 's' at the end of a word can be tricky for some ESL authors. It’s easy to miss if you're not familiar with ESL writing.
Look for word choice errors and eliminate wordiness. ESL students love thesauruses, but many don’t know how to differentiate between a synonym and a similar meaning. The result is incorrect word choices that make little sense in context (think “unswerving” instead of “unwavering”). Always aim to simplify the document by eliminating unnecessarily florid words or using a more fitting synonym that captures their intent. It can be a good idea to explain why you made the change if you think it might not be clear.
Find and Replace is your friend. Are you noticing an error pattern? Does the author tend to overuse a transition phrase or favor a word that just isn’t right? Save time by using Find and Replace. If the author keeps using the word “friend” where it should be “friendly,” for example, use the Find and Replace tool to check all of the mentions of "friend" and edit them accordingly.
One last read through in Final Markup mode. Just do it. No excuses--this is a crucial step in the process. The author might not even know how to spot mistakes, so it’s up to you to make sure it’s error-free. Pro tip: Use Word’s Read Aloud feature to listen back. It’s much easier to hear remaining ESL errors after your brain has been on overdrive working with a rough text.

ESL-specific language patterns will become clearer the more you work with ESL writing. In time, you’ll tackle these edits with ease!