Editing Tips: What Are Word Divisions?

When proofreading a typeset text, such as the page proofs for a book, you may need to look for issues with word divisions. But what is a word division in proofreading? And how should proofreaders approach them when checking a document? In this post, we explain the basics.

What Are Word Divisions?

Part of typesetting involves arranging the text from a manuscript in neat, even blocks. Sometimes, though, a word won’t fit in the space available at the end of a line. And to get around this, a typographer may use a word division, splitting the word across two lines.

Word divisions in a text.

This helps ensure the text looks tidy while maintaining its flow and readability. And a bad division can have the opposite effect, so it’s important to look out for word breaks when proofreading. But what exactly do you need to look for?

Proofreading for Word Breaks

There are no universal guidelines on how to divide words across lines in typeset text. In all cases, though, the aim is to ensure readability, so pronunciation and clarity are key factors. There are also several conventions most publishers follow on this count, including:

• Hyphens in should always go at the end of the first line, not the start of the next one.
• Never divide single-syllable words or proper nouns between lines.
• Place divisions between syllables (e.g., inci-dent or in-cident, not inc-ident).
• Use prefixes, suffixes, and existing hyphens as natural break points (e.g., pre-paration, not prepa-ration; mother-in-law, not moth-er-in-law).
• Make sure there are always at least two letters before a word break and at least three on the next line (e.g., re-sidents, not r-esidents; liquid-ate, not liquida-te).
• Try to avoid word divisions across pages.
• Try to avoid word divisions in headings and subheadings.
• Make sure not to split words in a way that could be ambiguous (e.g., leg-end, where leg and end are both words by themselves).

Not every publisher follows these rules (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, which many publishers use, permits word breaks across pages). But, in all cases, you will want to:

1. Keep clarity and pronunciation in mind. If a word break makes something ambiguous or harder to read, you should always highlight the problem for your client.
2. Check your client’s style guide or sheet. Some style guides have rules on word division, so you’ll always want to check this with your client before you start work.

And if you spot any problems with word divisions when proofreading, don’t forget to highlight them for your client. You can even suggest a solution if you can think of a a minor edit that will fix the issue (e.g., a slight change to spacing or phrasing). Your client will then pass these notes on to the typographer to create a set of revised proofs.

Becoming A Proofreader

Hopefully, this post has clarified a few things about word divisions and proofreading. If you’re interested in learning more about proofreading and copy editing, though, don’t forget to sign up for a free trial of our Becoming A Proofreader course.

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