Proofreading
Spelling, punctuation, grammar and the small slips that survive three rereads. Nothing is rewritten: your wording stays, and every correction is visible so you can refuse it.
Written English, edited online
Your English text, read closely and left clearer than it arrived
Mauricio Machado is an independent editor who reads emails, web pages, reports and handbooks written by people who work in English as a second language, then corrects the errors and smooths the sentences that make a reader stop. It is a one-person practice, and the one who reads your text is the one who answers you.
The work
Four kinds of editing cover nearly everything that arrives. Each one comes back as a marked-up file with the reasons written beside the changes.
Plain-language editing
Long sentences split, vague nouns replaced, passive phrasing turned around where it hides who does what. The aim is a text a busy reader gets right on the first pass.
Style sheets and word lists
One page that settles how your business writes: which spelling, how names and product terms appear, when to use numerals. Useful when several people write under the same name.
Read-through sessions
A video call where the text is read aloud and discussed line by line, so you hear where it stumbles and learn the pattern behind each fix. Notes are sent afterwards in writing.
The hard part is knowing what to leave alone
A correct sentence is not always a good one, and a good edit does not make the writer disappear. Second-language English often carries an order of thought that is perfectly clear in the writer's own language; the work is to keep that voice while removing what trips an English reader.
That takes a slow read and a short list of questions for the writer, not a pass of automatic fixes. Where a change could alter the meaning, it is marked as a question rather than made.
- Reading aloud
- Tracked changes
- Comments with reasons
- Questions, not guesses
- Your voice kept
- British or American
- Short style notes
How it runs
Three steps, all by email and video. Nothing is edited before you have agreed to the written scope.
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You send a sample
A page or two, plus a line on who will read the text and what they should do after reading it. The sample is read and a short note comes back on what the work would involve.
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The scope is written down
Which documents, which kind of editing, which spelling, and how the files are returned. You accept it, change it or stop there.
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The text is edited
Files come back with tracked changes, a clean copy and a short list of recurring patterns, so the next text starts from a better place.
What is agreed, and what is not offered
The practical points are here so they do not need asking on every message.
- Who does the work
- One person. The editor who reads your sample reads every page of the job.
- Where
- Online only, by email and video call. There are no visits.
- Your documents
- They are used for the job and for nothing else. Send only what you are free to share.
- Your decisions
- Every change is shown and none is forced. The final wording is always yours.
- Payment
- Nothing is sold or paid for on this website. Invoicing is arranged directly once a scope has been accepted.
Questions before sending anything
If yours is not here, write it on the request page.
Do I need to be a business?
No. Individuals and small businesses both send texts. What matters is that the text is yours and you are free to share it.
Will my writing be changed beyond recognition?
No. Changes are tracked, reasons are given, and anything that touches meaning is put to you as a question first.
Which file types work?
Word and Google documents, plain text, and text pasted into an email. Web pages are edited from the text, not inside your site.
Who answers my request?
The same person who would do the editing, in writing, one request at a time. Nothing here replies automatically.
Have a text that needs a second pair of eyes?
Describe it on the request page: the kind of document, roughly how long it is and who will read it. A reply comes back in writing, and nothing starts until the scope has been agreed.
Send a text for a first look