6

I have read What the "proofreading" close reason is for.

But, I'm still not 100% clear what we mean by "specific concerns."

Are we saying that the following would be acceptable:

Is this sentence grammatically correct:

Example sentence

I believe that the use of xyz phrase is not appropriate here because ...

vs.

Is this sentence grammatically correct:

Example sentence

(with no point of specific concern noted ...)

I frequently see both types of questions tagged as proofreading. And, I'm just as guilty as the next guy for tagging and/or going along with the tags of others. I want to make certain that I'm not being overly harsh in using these tags.

3
  • 6
    Yes, the first question is fine (assuming there are no other problems with it), whereas the second should be closed as proofreading.
    – waiwai933
    Mar 13, 2014 at 2:42
  • And both also really should read "Is this sentence grammatical?"
    – Kit Z. Fox Mod
    Mar 13, 2014 at 11:40
  • 2
    @kitfox while I don't disagree that grammatical should be preferred due to its lack of assigning value. I think the other is fairly common usage (even on this site).
    – David M
    Mar 13, 2014 at 11:59

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

I tried to address this in What the "proofreading" close reason is for, but I may have been too long-winded for my own good. tl;dr version: If the questioner is clearly more interested in getting an answer than in understanding the answer (i.e., if it smells suspiciously like a "do my homework for me" question), I usually vote to close as Proofreading. If the question shows a good faith effort to understand what the problem might be, I usually let it slide.

For your examples, I'd vote to close the second one and keep the first one open.

1
  • 1
    That's a good way of distinguishing potentially proofreading questions. Personally, I would have said this question, for example, is "proofreading", but people do tend to go for General Reference if OP asks "Is this grammatical?", only picking Proofreading when the OP asks "Are there any errors?"
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 14, 2014 at 17:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .