Herbal Therapy in Dermatology

LEARNING RESOURCES

Editing Prose Quiz

Answers

by Laura King, MA, ELS

Below is an example of an edited version of the paragraph. Because no 2 editors will edit the same manuscript exactly the same way, this answer key aims to point out egregious errors.

Herbal Therapy in Dermatology

Herbal therapy is becoming increasingly popular among patients and physicians. Many herbal preparations are marketed to the public for various skin conditions. Herbal therapies have been used sucessfully successfully [Editor’s Note: misspelled word] in treating dermatologic disorders for thousand’s thousands [Editor’s Note: Thousands is not possessive, so no apostrophe is required; §8.7, Apostrophe, pp 362-363 in print] of years in Europe and Asia. In Germany, a Regulatory Commission regulatory commission [Editor’s Note: Regulatory commission is not a proper name, so no capitalization is required; §10.3.9, Official Names, pp 377-378 in print] oversees herbal preparations and recommended uses. In Asia, herbal treatments that have been used for centuries are now being studied scientifically. In the USUnited States [Editor’s Note: Abbreviations such as US and UK may be used as modifiers (ie, only when they directly precede the word they modify) but should be expanded in all other contexts; §14.5, Cities, States, Counties, Territories, Possessions; Provinces; Countries, pp 451-456 in print], the FDA Food and Drug Administration [Editor’s Note: The names of all organizations should be spelled out at first mention; §14.8, Agencies and Organizations, pp 458-472 in print] does not regulate herbal products, as because [Editor’s Note: The word as should be avoided when it could be construed to mean while; §11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases, pp 381-405 in print] they are considered dietary supplements,; [Editor’s Note: Use a semicolon between main clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb (eg, also, besides, furthermore, then, however, thus, hence, indeed, yet) or a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor) if 1 of the clauses has internal punctuation or is considerably long; §8.2.1, Comma, Semicolon, Colon, pp 336-341 in print] therefore, there is no standardization of active ingredients, purity,[Editor’s Note: In a simple coordinate series of 3 or more terms, separate the elements by commas; §8.2.1, Comma, Semicolon, Colon, pp 336-341 in print] or concentration. There are also no regulations governing which herbs can be marketed for various ailments, which [Editor’s Note: Clauses that begin with which are preceded by commas; §7.2.2, Relative Pronouns, pp 317-319 in print] has made learning about and using these treatments challenging. We reviewed the scientific evidence of clinical efficacy of the herbal medications and the more common herbs useful in the treatment of dermatologic disorders. Knowledge about the safety of the herbs have has [Editor’s Note: subject-verb disagreement; §7.8.1, Intervening Phrase, pp 327-328 in print] been shown to better enable the physicians[Editor’s Note: subject-complement disagreement; §7.1.3, Subject-Complement Agreement, pp 316-317 in print] to know which herbal therapies they may want to use in practice. As seen in the dermatologic setting, [Editor’s Note: misplaced modifier; §7.4.1, Misplaced Modifiers, pp 322-323 in print] wWe also studied common drug interactions and side adverse effects of herbal medicines [Editor’s Note: Because a side effect can be either beneficial or harmful, adverse effect should be used when referring to harmful effects; §11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases, pp 381-405 in print].