The Book of Mormon explains that it is an imperfect record containing errors. That point is made at the very start of the record, and then again at the end of Mormon’s abridgment, as bookends for the book of prophecy. Here are those two acknowledgements of the record’s flaws. They are stated below, first in the language of the Book of Mormon, then secondly in the language of the Covenant of Christ:
Dedication text: Book of Mormon: “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.” [As changed by the LDS church’s version of the book, because they did not like the original way Joseph Smith translated it. What follows is the way in which Joseph Smith originally translated as the dedication.] “And now if there be fault, it be the mistake of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ.”
Contrast that with the newly restated language in Covenant of Christ: “If there are any errors, they are human mistakes. That being the case, do not condemn the things of God, so you can be found spotless at Christ’s judgment seat.”
Then we have both an acknowledgement and a description of how some of the miscommunication happened in Mormon 4:11:
Book of Mormon: “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him. But rather, give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in the Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also. And if we could have written in the Hebrew, behold, ye would have had none imperfection in our record.”
Covenant of Christ: “Don’t condemn me because of my imperfection, or my father because of his imperfection, or those who have written before him, but rather give thanks to God that He has shown you our imperfections, so you can learn to be wiser than we’ve been. We’ve written this record, according to our knowledge, in characters we call reformed Egyptian, handed down and adapted by us to fit our speech. If our plates had been large enough, we would have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew characters have been adapted by us as well. If we could have written in Hebrew, however, there wouldn’t have been any miscommunications in our record.”
These statements (and others) in the record were taken into account as the modern English restatement was accomplished. If the original authors acknowledge and explain their weakness, then it would be counter to the authenticity of the record to smooth everything into flawless language, complete sentences, and perfected punctuation. The original has very difficult grammar and sentence structures, often with interrupting clauses that make it very difficult to follow. In dealing with the text it was unnecessary to remove and correct all that. Instead there was a single focus: Make it understandable.
The text has been transferred into modern English that an average reader of the language today will understand. The objective was clarity, understandability and comprehension. NOT reforming it into exemplary prose.
If you accept the original as an authentic prophetic message from inspired writers in the past, whose record nevertheless has flaws, then the modern English restatement will mirror that same record in a way that equips you to understand its message.
The record advises us to consider its message, not its flaws. That is perhaps even more important for us who have Covenant of Christ to read: Consider carefully its message, not any real or imagined flaws that you notice.