# Line Edit Pass

Improve flow, precision, rhythm, emphasis, paragraph movement, and voice at sentence level without changing verified meaning or reopening settled structure.

## Usage note

Begin only after purpose, structure, and material claims are stable. Preserve an unedited copy and use tracked changes or equivalent history. Query the writer when a revision could alter fact, scope, tone, attribution, or intent. A fluent sentence is not an improvement if it changes what the source supports.

## How to use this template

1. Confirm the brief, audience, approved structure, source record, style guide, and boundaries of the line edit.
2. Edit one paragraph at a time for meaning, precision, emphasis, sequence, and rhythm.
3. Query changes that affect facts, interpretation, attribution, voice, or a writer’s first-hand experience.
4. Read the revised draft aloud and compare material claims with the source and original.
5. Review tracked changes, resolve queries, and hand off remaining copyedit or structural work explicitly.

## Blank template

### Pass setup

- **Draft and version:** [File or URL]
- **Audience and task:** [Reader outcome]
- **Writer:** [Name or role]
- **Line editor:** [Name]
- **Source record:** [Links]
- **Style and voice guides:** [Versions]
- **Out of scope:** [Structural, factual, legal, or another review]
- **Due date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]

### Paragraph review

- **Paragraph ID:** [Heading and number]
- **Primary job:** [Context, claim, evidence, example, action, or another]
- **Meaning risk:** [Ambiguity or None]
- **Precision change:** [Vague to specific]
- **Sequence change:** [Move and reason]
- **Emphasis change:** [What should land?]
- **Rhythm issue:** [Repetition, clause load, or monotony]
- **Query:** [Question for writer]

### Line-edit checks

- [ ] Subjects and actions are clear where clarity matters.
- [ ] Conditions remain beside the claims they qualify.
- [ ] Stronger certainty was not introduced without evidence.
- [ ] Pronoun and demonstrative references are unambiguous.
- [ ] Repetition has a reader function or was removed.
- [ ] Voice remains recognizable without formulaic phrasing.
- [ ] Quotations and first-hand details retain their meaning.

### Handoff

- **Material queries:** [IDs and decisions needed]
- **Fact checks triggered:** [Claim and owner]
- **Structural issue discovered:** [Location and recommendation]
- **Accepted voice decision:** [Boundary example]
- **Next pass:** [Copyedit, proofread, specialist review, or another]
- **Signoff:** [Writer and editor status]