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I am very weak at articulating questions. I am never happy the way I write and find it very boring. I would like to know if there is a better way to present things than I did.

For example this question here, Which is the best place in stack-exchange where I can request to rephrase something? Or even to rephrase a question from any of the stack-exchange sites.

Or, Can I request people to edit a question to make it better? I know that moderators have access to edit the content, I am wondering if an explicit request can be made to edit a question or for that matter any answer.

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    I visited the question, and it's written quite well. It is clear, and you have provided examples. If someone wants to copy-edit your post, they will do so. Personally, if it's of any consolation, the "corrections" will be that of style rather than grammatical.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Jul 4, 2017 at 8:16
  • Yea, problem has been with style :)
    – Codeformer
    Jul 4, 2017 at 8:19
  • I tidied up a few bits, but really, it's just the odd typo or spelling stuff.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Jul 4, 2017 at 8:23
  • Thank you @Mari-LouA , I see the revision .
    – Codeformer
    Jul 4, 2017 at 8:24
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    Looks fine to me as well, your linked question.
    – NVZ Mod
    Jul 4, 2017 at 12:29
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    Practice writing, make reading a habit. That's just about it.
    – NVZ Mod
    Jul 4, 2017 at 12:30
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    I grew my vocabulary mainly by binge-watching English TV shows.
    – NVZ Mod
    Jul 4, 2017 at 12:32
  • Sure, thank you @NVZ
    – Codeformer
    Jul 4, 2017 at 12:37
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    @Vinod I edited your question to remove typos and to improve grammar and punctuation. Also abbreviations were inconsistently used.
    – Soha Farhin Pine
    Jul 5, 2017 at 0:20
  • @SohaFarhinPine cheers 👍🏻
    – Codeformer
    Jul 5, 2017 at 0:58
  • @Soha Farhin Pine very nice editing! It improves the 'natural flow' of OP's question.
    – English Student
    Jul 5, 2017 at 10:49
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    @EnglishStudent Hi, there! Neighbour, I live in Bangladesh (if you get what I mean). I'm very much like you---I'd never really been one to like grammar.
    – Soha Farhin Pine
    Jul 5, 2017 at 11:01
  • @Soha Farhin Pine neighbor indeed! I always supports Bangladesh cricket team against all countries including India. I appreciate your English because it is naturally self-confident, and I think you can start writing many more answers here, especially when you are satisfied you know the answer.
    – English Student
    Jul 5, 2017 at 11:07
  • @Soha Farhin Pine note 2: I like to make the occasional (deliberate) grammatical error. I think I have a right. Somebody even corrected me in earnest.
    – English Student
    Jul 5, 2017 at 11:15
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    Codeformer, idiomatic is our end result. Our first target is to avoid glaring errors: we need a solid English education from school/tuition -- which we are very likely to have in India and @Soha Farhin Pine in Bangladesh. The next step is to read a lot of good English -- preferably modern British & American English from good books and internet. Thus we get a real sense of how native speakers write English. Finally a great site like ELU allows us to constantly interact with native speakers through chat and comments -- now our English becomes naturally idiomatic by practice, practice, practice!
    – English Student
    Jul 5, 2017 at 13:46

3 Answers 3

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In general, no: Stack Exchange in general, and ELU in particular (according to our "on-topic" page), are explicitly NOT proof-reading, copy-editing, or writing advice services:

But please, don’t ask any questions about the following topics. They are out of scope for this site.

  • Proofreading ("Is this right?", "Are there any mistakes?"), unless a specific source of concern is clearly specified. See below for hints on checking existing texts.
  • Writing advice (see Writers.SE instead) or critique requests

(Technically, writers.se is a writing advice site, but I don't believe their purview extends all the way down to "how do I improve this other SE question?".)

If you have a problem with one of your own questions, you can always edit it yourself to improve it.

On the other hand, if you have a specific, and reasonably objective question about it, you are welcome to ask about that particular issue here on English.se. Often if you include a link to the post that gave rise to the question, people will be more than happy to offer additional advice.

Also, many times people will add comments that offer an edit or some advice or ask for clarification if they see something that they find a bit awkward or difficult to understand. You can always reply to those comments, incorporate something new into your question, and (via comments) invite others to edit further if they believe your text can be improved.

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As already stated in the earlier answers, English.StackExchange website generally considers off-topic any general request to improve the quality of language in any written passage, which would include a question posted here. On the other hand, we are not concerned with the English expertise of the person asking the question, nor the grammatical correctness of the question itself, provided the point raised by the question is clear and fulfills the criteria for being on-topic here.

Regarding the language of your question and the editing helpfully done by Soha Farhin Pine, it does not seem to me that your competence in English is in any way lacking, nor that there was any pressing need to 'present things better', as you put it. All the corrections made first by senior member Mari-louA and then by Soha Farhin were minor edits intended only to correct a few typos and improve the 'natural flow' of the passage -- in other words, these edits were not necessary to improve the clarity of presentation if your question.

Members with at least a certain (comparatively low) number of reputation points, including myself, are empowered to edit any question or answer to correct errors of spelling/ grammar/ punctuation and generally improve the clarity of the question (which is sometimes necessary to prevent closure or to reopen a question closed as unclear) but IMHO there is no real need to improve the style of a written piece, which I would leave as it is.

Style is not central to the validity of any question here, and nor is grammatical correctness. If the question is clear and on-topic, members will usually get down to the business of providing an answer.

Note 2: you deserve a lot of credit for 'listening to that podcast again' and providing a detailed answer to your own question. Just looking at your answer, it is just the type of answer that is expected at ELU and routinely given by senior members. I appreciate and upvote!

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Whenever you are concerned that your question is not clear and understandable, you may request assistance on the Meta associated with the site where you asked (or would like to ask) a question.

At ELU you have to be careful not to give the appearance of asking for help with proofreading, or rewriting for the sake of polishing some writing. I think you might have a slightly easier time over at ELL with getting the sort of feedback I think you might be interested in.

It might be helpful to take a look at the questions at ELL that have to do with finding resources for improving your English.

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