git commit -am "[Editorial] Modernize hyphenation and spelling"
Other spelling changes can be made to a work, with the following caveats:
+You can and should update spelling of other words that you come across during proofreading, with the following caveats:
We do not generally bother with changing or removing dashes or spaces from compound words, other than what modernize-spelling already handles. For example, our corpus has dining-room, witch-doctor, and hundreds of other words where a space might be more modern, just as we have compounds with spaces where no space might be more modern. Usage changes over time in both directions, and it is simply too large a task to tackle.
We modernize sound-alike spelling, not grammar or word usage. Thus, updating mak to make is OK, but changing maketh to makes is not.
We only want to modernize spelling, not grammar or word-usage, so only “sound-alike” changes should be made. Thus, updating mak to make is OK, but changing maketh to makes is not.
We usually don’t bother with adding or removing dashes or spaces from compound words, other than what se modernize-spelling does. For example dining-room might read more modern with a space, but dashes and spaces are inconsistent over a large number of words and it’s too much work to keep a master list.
We do not change spelling from U.S. to British or vice-versa, even to align with a book’s “language.” Having mixed spelling in a book, i.e. some British, some U.S., was quite common and not something we try to standardize. This article provides a good overview of the differences in spelling between British and U.S. English.
+Don’t change spelling from en-US to en-GB or vice-versa, even to align with a book’s “language.” Having mixed spelling in a book was common and not something we standardize. This article provides a good overview of the differences between British and U.S. English.
If, after having run se modernize-spelling, you find a hyphenated compound word that appears in Merriam-Webster's basic online search results without a hyphen, then you can make an Editorial change to update it. It would also be helpful if you would let us know so we can add the word to the internal word list that modernize-spelling uses.
If, after having run se modernize-spelling, you find a hyphenated compound word that appears in Merriam-Webster's basic online search results without a hyphen, then you can make an Editorial change to update it. Please also let us know so that we can update se modernize-spelling.
If you find an archaic word that you believe might qualify to be modernized, a good way to check is with a Google Ngram search, at https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en-fiction&smoothing=3.
If you find an archaic word that you think should be modernized, a good way to check is with a Google Ngram search. Remember to select either American English or British English!
For the reasons specified above, any manual spelling changes made should be in an [Editorial] commit, e.g.
git commit -m "[Editorial] Modernize spelling, mak -> make".
+
+ Any manual spelling changes made must be in an [Editorial] commit, e.g.
git commit -m "[Editorial] mak -> make"