7 Common Viruses in Persian Writing: A Practical Editing Guide

Writing never truly ends; it only stops. Editing is where a text moves from "good" to "professional." Let's examine seven common viruses in Persian texts with examples.

1) Redundancy: Words That Do No Work

Words like "very, really, actually, completely, thus" stretch a text when they become mere decoration.

• Before: He was actually very tired and completely couldn't think.
• After: He was tired; he couldn't think.

2) Dead Verbs

Sentences that end with "was, had, became" can usually be turned into action verbs.

• Before: He had eyes that held worry.
• After: Worry sat in both his eyes.

3) Overlong Sentences

A long sentence isn't inherently flawed, but if it leaves the reader breathless, it must be broken. A practical rule: for any sentence with more than two "and"s and one "that," rework the sentence structure.

4) Redundant Adverb Beside the Verb

"He walked slowly, slowly, gently," "He shouted loudly." One of these should be cut — usually the adverb, because the verb already carries the meaning: "He shouted" (loudness is inherent in shouting).

5) Structural Ambiguity

A sentence that conveys two meanings at once:

• Ambiguous: He saw the neighbor's daughter who had grown old.
• Clear: He saw his elderly neighbor, who was holding her daughter in her arms.

Rule: keep pronouns and relative clauses away from the person or thing they might wrongly attach to, so ambiguity doesn't arise.

6) ZWNJ and Persian "Y" and "K"

• "می‌رود" is correct, not "میرود."
• "بزرگ‌تر," "کتاب‌ها," "نویسندگان‌مان."
• Persian "ی" in "ایرانی" and Persian "ک" in "کتاب" — not "ايرانى" and "كتاب."
• In literary texts, the ZWNJ also regulates sentence rhythm: the eye sees and the ear hears.

7) Punctuation: The ZWNJ of Sentences

In Persian, punctuation is usually misapplied under English influence:

• "،" between list items; not before "and" everywhere.
• "..." for doubt, not for silently deleting a sentence.
• Quotation marks for quotes and emphasizing a word.

Editing Checklist (30 Minutes)

1. Read the text aloud and mark where the rhythm breaks.
2. Find redundancies by searching: very, really, actually, completely.
3. Replace sentence endings with "was/had/became."
4. Break sentences over 25 words.
5. Review the ZWNJs.
6. Read once from end to beginning (attention shifts from meaning to form).

A good text is one where the reader doesn't notice how much work went into it — they simply read it fluently.