Another tip

Michael Pahl noted on his blog that the list of tips for "proper English" which I posted on Thursday was missing #3. Shame on me: I should have proofread that list which I copied from another website. After all, proofreading and careful editing of English is one of the focuses of the Better Bibles Blog, eh?!

In any case, I googled on "40 tips for proper English" and found a number of other webpages that copied the same list I did, all with the missing #3. It took my aging eyes quite awhile to figure out where the missing #3 was: Someone had combined two tips for #30 in the list I originally posted. Google helped me find another list which has the same tips, but separates the combined one, and has a #3. So, I don't really have another tip for you from the list, since the missing tip was already in the list. But, like every good preacher, or missionary, I still can find a tip for you from this experience. It is: proofread, proofread, proofread.

I have now revised my last post so that the numbers are correct in the list. For those of you who like to check out all the details, I think I have supplied enough links for you to do that.

Finally, have I mentioned yet today's tip? Proofread, proofread, proofread? :-) Every piece of good writing, including Bible translations, needs to be proofread, proofread, proofread--then set aside and let it (and your brain) rest for awhile, then come back to the piece, and, well, you know what should happen again, ... proofread some more! (Have I mentioned today's tip for you yet?) Oh, and before, during, and sometimes after, you proofread, you also need to revise, revise, revise. But this will be a topic for another post. I have some examples from English Bible versions from which I have noticed some revisions which improved the translation wordings. Stay tuned!