Text conversation

Ask a French editor to preserve a qualification in your quote

Ask a French editor to restore a condition that was cut from your quote, using precise branching replies and a concise faithful alternative.

In short

Identify the exact omitted condition and explain what it changes. Then propose a concise faithful version. Sans cette précision, la citation donne l’impression que… focuses the correction on meaning instead of accusing the editor of an intention you cannot establish.

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Blank draft sheets and a pencil sit above a long paper strip with a missing segment and a matching coloured piece.
Restore the missing qualification before approving a shortened quotation. Illustration: Atelier

Your original statement is: Je soutiens l’ouverture du dimanche si elle ne réduit pas les horaires en semaine. The editor’s draft quotes only Je soutiens l’ouverture du dimanche. The article is not yet published. You want the condition preserved, not your whole contribution removed.

Camille · rédaction associativeCitation en cours de préparation
  1. Pour raccourcir, j’ai gardé : « Je soutiens l’ouverture du dimanche. » Cela vous convient ?To shorten it, I kept: “I support Sunday opening.” Does that work for you?
  2. Point to the change in meaning without claiming a hidden motive.

  3. Je comprends. Nous avons très peu de place. Avez-vous une version courte ?I understand. We have very little space. Do you have a short version?
  4. Offer an accurate concise version.

  5. D’accord. Je peux aussi écrire au discours indirect que votre soutien dépend du maintien des horaires en semaine.All right. I can also write in indirect speech that your support depends on preserving weekday hours.
  6. Accept the faithful paraphrase and clarify its presentation.

  7. Merci. L’essentiel est que le maintien des horaires en semaine reste lié à mon soutien.

Review the final clarification

Merci. L’essentiel est que le maintien des horaires en semaine reste lié à mon soutien.

Thank you. The essential point is that preserving weekday hours remains tied to my support.

Explain the broader reading created by the cut

Soutien sans réserve describes the impression produced by the shorter draft. It does not claim the editor deliberately intended that impression. This distinction makes the request concrete: restore the condition connecting the two parts of your statement.

A faithful paraphrase can solve a length problem

Indirect speech can preserve the relation without reproducing every word. It should remain attributed and should not be dressed as an exact direct quotation. In the proposed paraphrase, dépend du maintien keeps the condition explicit.

Question 1No account needed
What is essential to retain?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

The condition about weekday hours.. The original support depends on preserving weekday hours.

Question 2No account needed
How should a faithful indirect-speech reformulation be presented?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

As an attributed paraphrase.. Paraphrase can preserve meaning while remaining distinct from original wording.

For a comparable request, quote the missing phrase, explain its function and propose a usable revision. This gives the editor a clear correction to make before publication.