I'll tell you what he should have done. He should have just highlighted the guy that wrote the paper and said, "That's what is wrong with the paper."

Why isn't anyone noticing the error in this FML post? "I took me 4 hours..." should be, "It took me 4 hours..." OP did so much editing, she forgot to make sure her FML was grammatically correct. How ironic!

19- I see your comment as a post of its own and not a reply to mine or 7's. You do make a good point but this is not the place to post it.

No one's noticing it because it says 'it took me four hours' there was nothing wrong with it

Hmm it has changed from it to I back to it.

A simple F would have sufficed

#36 OP was proofreading, not grading. Had she written an F on the paper, she would really appear as a b*.

nice c&h reference

F... fot *******.

at least its all practice...but people are so ungrateful

It's kinda crazy to see how many college students (assuming OP is in college) still make mistakes with the your/you're, it's/its, there/they're/their. Lol the most armed country in the world and we can't even use correct English...

That's exactly right. People assume that just because they have experience with the talking, it translated into writing. Thus, they take criticism of their writing as a personal attack on their perception of themselves as competent communicators. TL;DR Oh that hubris

#15, your wrong, its not lyk its there fault that they're teachrs didnt teach them da correct way 2 do contractions good, besides hoo cares NEways text tlk is da whey of da future mayne. #swagyolo420

The English language is so difficult and confusing as it is. I'm in college and I could go to the tutoring lab many times, have several different people look over my paper, and I would still get a low grade. How do I know? Because it has happened before. I hate English class. Math and science is where it's at.

#32 If I didn't know that was a joke, I would be ripping your face off.

15- I've got it all down pat except for to/too. Couldn't understand in second grade and no one has helped since. Like long division.

dashizam, "Too" means "additionally" or "as well." Try using either of those every time you want to use one of those two words. For example: "I'd like to go too." = "I'd like to go as well." Both work, so "too" is correct. "I'm going as well the store" sounds really strange and is clearly wrong. In that sentence, "to" is correct.

I almost forgot to mention that "too" also can mean "in excess." Example: "I have too much housework to do." = "I have excessive housework to do."

Eh, that is way to much effort. Just burn his house down.

If he was, he probably wouldn't have asked OP to proof read it though.. :/

It's especially annoying when they ask you to be brutally honest...then get pissy when you edit/correct their work anyway. I used to write and edit people's resumés during university to earn a bit of extra money, and people would get SO MAD when I'd tell them their resumé needed more information or that it needed a complete overhaul. Sometimes I felt like yelling, "DON'T GET PISSY AT ME! WHY DID YOU PAY ME TO EDIT IT IF YOU THOUGHT IT WAS PERFECT TO BEGIN WITH!!" I was only trying to be helpful. :( It's like people think their work is perfect, that when they say, "be brutally honest," they really mean, "be brutally honest to everyone but me."

I recently received a press release written by a senior member of our staff. My mentor explained that I have to be "sensitive" when editing it. When I read it, I couldn't believe my eyes - it was so poorly punctuated and randomly capitalized that one could barely get through it! I did my best, but my mentor rewrote it anyway...

I'm looking to go into either Proposal Writing or Copywriting. Guess this is what I have to look forward to. Wonderful! ._.

StarThrower, if you're a professional editor/writer, then why do you have/need a mentor to re-write your editing for you? Surely that's an oxymoron right there?

Professional doesn't mean you still don't have anything to learn, or that you don't occasionally need someone to look at your work with fresh eyes. I think you are mistaking the word mentor for the word teacher.

"Professional" only means that it's my profession; I get paid to produce and edit writing. Doesn't mean I'm so far up the food chain, that I don't have anything else to learn, or anywhere else to climb. Also, you meant "contradiction," not "oxymoron." It's good that you are watching out, and trying to call people on their BS though, keep it up :)

I was just asking a question, not trying to be a pedant. You wont move very far up the professional ladder with misplaced snobbery like that. Oh, and oxymoron is correct, but thanks anyway.

What would I do without you, love ;)

Erm...probably still get the last word in?