The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Tap the word, then decide: correct it, never correct it, or flag it for the reporter.

Practice only5 drills in this lesson.Spot and sort

Read first.

Every editing decision in a transcript comes back to one distinction. Some errors belong to the machine or the writer: a misstroke, an untranslate, a wrong homophone the dictionary produced, a word the audio shows was dropped. Those are yours to fix. Others belong to the witness: the grammar, the false start, the wrong date said with confidence. Those are the testimony, and they stay.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Federal court policy says it plainly: “All grammatical errors, changes of thought, contractions, misstatements, and poorly constructed sentences must be transcribed as spoken.” Texas’s Uniform Format Manual uses nearly the same words.

Sources: Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 6, § 520.40.10(b)(1); Texas Uniform Format Manual, § 3.15.

The reason is the certificate. Under Rule 30(f)(1), the officer certifies that “the deposition accurately records the witness’s testimony.” It vouches for what the witness said, not for what the witness meant. An editor who improves the testimony makes the certificate less true.

Source: Fed. R. Civ. P. 30, 30(f)(1).

Three verbs carry the whole method.

Correct what the machine or the writer got wrong, when the notes or the audio confirm it.
Never correct what the witness, the attorneys, or the court actually said.
Flag anything you cannot confirm, and leave the decision with the reporter.

DepoStack’s synthesis, not an industry standard.

Read more in the guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Drills.

Spot and sort: tap a word on the page, read what your check found, then decide whether to correct it, never correct it, or flag it.

On a page, the arrow keys move between words; Enter or Space taps one.

The drills answer back with JavaScript on. Without it, every sample is here, and each drill’s answers and reasons are in its key.

Your progress stays in this browser only. There is no account, and nothing you tap is sent anywhere.

Drill 1: A sound-alike

Spot and sort

Something on line 5 is not what the witness said. Tap it, then sort it.

Synthetic testimony Page 23

Line 3 A. At the warehouse, on the dock.
Line 4 Q. And who drove the van that morning?
Line 5 A. Their was no driver at first. I
Line 6 loaded it myself.
Line 7 Q. Did anyone help you?
Line 8 A. No.

Your check. The audio and the steno notes both say “there.”

Tap a word on the page.

Answer key

The word: line 5, “Their”.

Correct it (the answer)

A wrong homophone is the machine’s error, and the notes and the audio confirm what was said, so the fix is yours. Practitioners name they’re/there/their among the real-word slips spellcheck passes.

Sources: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness; JCR, proofreading tips: a baker’s dozen.
Never correct

“Never correct” protects what the witness said. The witness said “there”; “their” is the machine’s word, not the witness’s.

Sources: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness; Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 6, § 520.40.10(b)(1).
Flag it

A flag is for what you cannot confirm. Here the notes and the audio agree, so the fix is yours to make.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Drill 2: The witness’s grammar

Spot and sort

Line 13 reads oddly. Tap the word you would be tempted to change, then sort it.

Synthetic testimony Page 23

Line 12 Q. What happened when the driver got back?
Line 13 A. We was already loading it when he
Line 14 come back with the keys.
Line 15 Q. And then?
Line 16 A. He drove off. That’s the last I
Line 17 seen of it till the afternoon.

Your check. The audio and the notes match the page word for word: “We was already loading it when he come back with the keys.”

Tap a word on the page.

Answer key

The word: line 13, “was”.

Correct it

Changing “was” to “were” improves the witness, not the machine. The certificate vouches for what the witness said, so polishing the testimony makes it less true.

Sources: Fed. R. Civ. P. 30, 30(f)(1); The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.
Never correct (the answer)

The witness’s grammar is the testimony. Federal policy: “All grammatical errors, changes of thought, contractions, misstatements, and poorly constructed sentences must be transcribed as spoken.” Texas’s manual says the same.

Sources: Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 6, § 520.40.10(b)(1); Texas Uniform Format Manual, § 3.15.
Flag it

Nothing is in doubt: the notes and the audio match the page. A flag sends a real question to the reporter, and this one is already answered.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Drill 3: A small word missing

Spot and sort

A small word is missing on line 2. Tap the word just after the gap, then sort it.

Synthetic testimony Page 24

Line 1 Q. Let’s talk about the paperwork. Did you
Line 2 sign for the boxes at front desk?
Line 3 A. I did.

Your check. On the audio Ms. Alpha says “at the front desk,” and the notes show the word too.

Tap a word on the page.

Answer key

The word: line 2, “front”.

Correct it (the answer)

A dropped word the audio confirms goes back in. Small words are the easiest to miss: one study found function-word errors were detected less often than content-word errors.

Sources: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness; Burgoyne et al., Psychological Research, 2022; JCR, proofreading tips: a baker’s dozen.
Never correct

“Never correct” would keep a word the attorney actually said out of the record. The audio and the notes both have “the.”

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.
Flag it

You can confirm this one: the audio and the notes agree. Flag only what you cannot confirm.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Drill 4: A number that looks wrong

Spot and sort

The number on line 9 doesn’t match the invoice. Tap it, then sort it.

Synthetic testimony Page 24

Line 8 Q. How many boxes did the van hold?
Line 9 A. About 1,200, give or take.
Line 10 Q. Is that what the invoice shows?
Line 11 A. I’d have to look.

Your check. The invoice lists 120 boxes. On the audio the number runs together: you cannot tell “one twenty” from “twelve hundred.”

Tap a word on the page.

Answer key

The word: line 9, “1,200,”.

Correct it

Changing it to 120 makes the page match the exhibit, not the testimony. The witness may have said twelve hundred; only the reporter, who heard the room, can decide.

Sources: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness; JCR, what does a scopist do? (Linda M. Lee).
Never correct

You can’t mark it settled either: you could not make out the number, so the page may hold the machine’s error. When you cannot confirm, flag.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.
Flag it (the answer)

A number that looks wrong may still be what was said, and the audio cannot settle it. Leave a hidden note for the reporter. Numbers are the scopist’s to check, and Stenograph’s Check It, for one, ignores them.

Sources: JCR, what does a scopist do? (Linda M. Lee); E.D. Wash. attorney newsletter, August 2026; Stenograph help: Check It.

Drill 5: A wrong date, said with confidence

Spot and sort

The year on line 13 contradicts the invoice. Tap it, then sort it.

Synthetic testimony Page 24

Line 12 Q. When did you deliver the boxes?
Line 13 A. That was March 3rd, 2019.
Line 14 Q. Are you sure of the year?
Line 15 A. Yes.

Your check. The invoice is dated March 3, 2020. The audio and the notes both say “2019,” and the witness confirms it on line 15.

Tap a word on the page.

Answer key

The word: line 13, “2019.”.

Correct it

Fixing the year makes the page agree with the exhibit and disagree with the testimony. The editor never changes an answer: the witness does, on review under Rule 30(e).

Sources: Fed. R. Civ. P. 30, 30(e); The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.
Never correct (the answer)

A wrong date said with confidence is a misstatement, and misstatements are transcribed as spoken. If the witness wants to change it, Rule 30(e) gives the witness, not the editor, the way to do it.

Sources: Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 6, § 520.40.10(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 30, 30(e).
Flag it

The notes and the audio agree, so there is nothing to ask the reporter. The odd year is the attorneys’ business, not the editor’s.

Source: The guide: The one rule: fix the machine, never the witness.

Recap.

Correct what the machine or the writer got wrong, when the notes or the audio confirm it.
Never correct what was said: the witness’s grammar, a dropped article in their speech, a wrong date said with confidence.
Flag what you cannot confirm, such as a number the audio cannot settle, and leave the decision with the reporter.
The three verbs are DepoStack’s synthesis of the editing-of-speech rules, Rule 30(e), and two NCRA advisory opinions.

Free practice, not a credential. No certificate or credential: this course awards none, and we found no recognized credential for steno scopists.