I've been tasked with "editing" a document that literally makes me want to throw up after every sentence I read. I'm supposed to track changes via Word but at this point there is more red than black on the screen. The ideas are good but every sentence is just awkward, poorly worded, and often flat-out grammatically incorrect. How do I tell my boss's boss that he can't write for shit and needs to take all of my edits? Or should I just send the heavily marked-up version and not comment on why I basically rewrote the whole thing?
Note: This is not someone for whom English is a second language and I actually think he believes he is a good writer.
Make the changes - Do the job you have been tasked on - Mention nothing. I think that this is a very subtle way of letting him know his writting and sentence structure sucks.
what will really be funny is when you get your edit back with lots of red ink asking you to turn it back into what he originally wrote..
Both of these replies are 100% on-point.
Better not say anything..Just fix it
Drop a manual of style on their desk late at night.
You need to edit your superior's work so as to make him look very good, but you must do so in a way in which he becomes aware that you are making him look good. Then you will be viewed as an asset rather than a douche. Finding a way to "let him know his writing sucks" is about the most impolitic course of action I can think of.
really?
How do you tell a superior that they are a terrible writer?
Hahaha, I guess his terrible writing is contagious. In fact, many of the edits I made were similar slips of tense agreement.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I marked it up in Word and sent it to him in an email with almost no commentary. This morning he thanked me for the edits and said that seeing some drastic changes really helped him to see the material in new ways. No offense taken, although I'm probably going to have to do a couple more rounds of rewriting/editing.
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