Since Quora likes to collapse my answers in an effort to keep me quiet, I’m copying and pasting some of the Quora Q and A’s in which I’ve participated. Here’s a question from Quora.

This time, I’ll be showing a few questions with some short answers. All of the questions revolve around some facet of editing, but if you find that you have some questions about the editing process, please ask right here or leave a comment.

Question 1: Is “I am unlike he” or “I am unlike him” grammatically correct?

Addendum: My teacher says only “I am unlike he” and “They, unlike he are smarter…” as opposed to “I am unlike him” and “They, unlike him are smarter…”. I have always heard people say “I am unlike him”, so which is grammatically correct?

Answer: I am unlike him is correct, but it’s an awkward way to speak. More appropriately, one says: I am not like him, or I am not like he is, or I’m different than he is.

Similarly, one doesn’t normally say: I, unlike he, am smarter. One says: I, unlike him, am smart. I am smarter than he is. I am smarter than him. He is not as smart as me. He is not as smart as I am.

Question 2: Is this correct ” dealing and connecting with others demands some efforts” how can I improve ir[sic]?

Answer: Dealing and connecting with others demands some effort.

Effort is not plural in this case. It doesn’t really need improving, though. You might, nevertheless, try:

Dealing and connecting with others requires effort.

It requires effort to deal and connect with others.

It can be difficult to deal and connect with others.

Question 3: What’s another way of saying “in my opinion”?

Answer: There are numerous ways to “say” the same thing, and this is a great question because many times, what makes or breaks a story, a scene, or a chapter can boil down to the way something is phrased.

In this case, in my opinion, can be rephrased as:

What I think. What I believe. My thoughts are. I have heard. I have been taught. In my experience. It seems to me.

The list is practically endless, but I think you guys see where I’m going.

So that’s three little questions from Quora, and as you can see, editing is really a great deal more than correcting misspelled words, bad grammar, and incorrect punctuation.

Please visit my editing services tab for more information.

Also be sure to read through all my posts if you intend to become a better writer. Thanks, everyone, and stay tuned for more info.