Where second-language writing usually needs help
Writers working in English as an additional language are often very accurate in their field and very precise in their thinking. The difficulties tend to cluster in a few predictable places:
- Articles and determiners: when to use “a”, “the” or nothing at all, which many languages do not mark.
- Prepositions and collocations: “depend of” versus “depend on”, or “make research” versus “conduct research”.
- Tense in academic reporting: past for what you did, present for what is generally accepted, present perfect for the state of the literature.
- Sentence structure carried over from a first language: very long sentences, or subject and verb far apart.
- False friends: words that look familiar but mean something different in English, such as “actual” for “current”.
None of these reflects a weakness in your research. They are simply the places where English behaves differently from the languages many researchers think in first.
How language editing differs from proofreading
A proofreader assumes the English is already fluent and looks for slips. Language editing assumes there will be phrasing that is grammatically possible but unusual to a native reader, and reworks it so it sounds natural. That makes it the right choice when a supervisor, examiner or reviewer has commented on your English.
If your English is strong and you just want a final check, a proofread is enough. If the problems go beyond language into structure or argument, combine this service with feedback from our academic editing team or thesis coaches.
An example of a typical edit
Original: “In this study, it was made an analysis of the datas of 120 patients for to evaluate the relation among the stress and the sleep quality.”
Edited: “In this study, we analysed data from 120 patients to evaluate the relationship between stress and sleep quality.”
The comment explains three things: “data” is usually treated as uncountable in this sense; “between” is used for two variables; and the active “we analysed” is now widely accepted in research writing and makes the sentence shorter. Comments like this, repeated over a document, are where much of the learning happens.
Notice that the edit does not alter the study, the numbers or the claim. It changes only how the sentence is expressed, which is exactly where language editing should stop.
Learning from the edit, not just accepting it
It is tempting to click “accept all” and move on, and sometimes a deadline makes that the right choice. When you have a little more time, it pays to work through the changes. Most writers find that a handful of patterns account for the majority of corrections: perhaps article use, perhaps one or two prepositions, perhaps sentences that start with “It is…that”. Our summary list points these out with examples taken from your own text.
Fixing those patterns yourself in the next draft makes future editing faster and less expensive, and it builds the kind of confidence in written English that carries into conference talks and correspondence with editors. Clients who return with later papers often need a noticeably lighter edit the second time.
Getting started
Send your document through the quote form or WhatsApp. Tell us whether you need US or UK English, what the document is for, and the deadline. If a journal has asked for editing, include the reviewer or editor comment, which helps us prioritise.
You will receive a quote within a few hours. Around 5,000 words usually takes two to three working days. For journal manuscripts that also need checks against author guidelines, see manuscript editing; for a full thesis, thesis editing includes university formatting checks.
What you get
- A language-edited file in tracked changes: grammar, articles, prepositions, verb tenses and word order
- Natural academic phrasing in place of literal translations or unusual collocations
- Comments wherever the intended meaning is unclear, so nothing is guessed
- A short personalised list of your most frequent language patterns, with examples and fixes
- A certificate of English editing on request, for journal submissions that require one
What we don't do
- Translation from another language; we edit text you have written in English
- Changes to your content or argument; language editing works on expression only
- Machine-paraphrasing or tools that disguise authorship; we never offer these
How it works
Describe your project
Level, deadline and what you need help with.
Agree a written scope
What's included, the price and the timeline.
Work in stages
Check-ins so you can steer the work.
Review and ask
Explanations and follow-up questions included.