Copy editors can handle determiner deletion in three ways. They may leave
the copy exactly as they found it. That is, if the determiner is present in the
copy, leave it in; if it is absent, having been already deleted by a previous
editor, then leave it absent. As active alternatives, a copy editor may delete
a determiner which was retained in the input copy; or reinsert a determiner
previously deleted. We can formalize this process through two editing rules:
the editing rule of determiner deletion, which is formally identical to the
ordinary linguistic rule of determiner deletion; and the editing rule of
determiner re-insertion, which precisely reverses the deletion rule.