grammer/ ap style
DESCRIPTION
Grammer and AP Style primer for beginner news writing students.TRANSCRIPT
Prof. Stephanie Hanlon-Nugent
Grammar and Style
Misused words, punctuation, grammar and AP Style
Source: “The Elements of News Writing” by James Kershner
Misused words
❖ It’s/ Its
❖ It’s is a contraction.
❖ It’s a fine day to go to the beach.
❖ Its means belonging to.
❖ The jury has reached its decision.
Misused words
❖ There/ They’re/ Their
❖ The book is over there.
❖ They’re all in class today.
❖ Their teacher is the best.
Misused words
❖ Affect/ Effect
❖ Affect is to influence.
❖ Pollution affects fish.
❖ Effect is the result.
❖ The pollution had an effect on the fish.
Misused words
❖ Then/ Than
❖ Then refers to time.
❖ We will go to class, then eat lunch.
❖ Than makes a comparison.
❖ I would rather eat lunch than go to class.
Misused words
❖ By/ Buy/ Bye
❖ By means beside or near.
❖ Buy means to purchase.
❖ Bye means to say goodbye.
Misused words
❖ Cite/ Sight/ Site
❖ Cite is to reference.
❖ Sight is to see.
❖ Site is a location.
Misused words
❖ Council/ Counsel
❖ Council is a body, like a student council.
❖ Counsel is an adviser or a lawyer.
Misused words
❖ To/ Too/ Two
❖ To is in the direction of.
❖ Let’s go to the park.
❖ Too means excessively.
❖ I have too many books.
❖ Two is a number.
❖ I’m only taking two classes this semester.
Misused words
❖ Who’s/ Whose
❖ Who’s is a contraction for who is.
❖ Who’s going to answer the next question?
❖ Whose is a possessive for belonging to whom.
❖ Whose paper is that on the floor?
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas separate items in a series.
❖ The flag is red, white and blue.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Don’t use a comma with the last item in a series.
❖ Wrong: Newspaper ink comes in magenta, cyan, yellow, and black.
❖ Right: Newspaper ink comes in magenta, cyan, yellow and black.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas set off phrases that could be removed from a sentence.
❖ Mary Smith, who missed five classes, failed the course.
❖ Don’t use commas to set off essential words and phrases.
❖ Students who miss too many classes fail their courses.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas separate independent clauses.
❖ The reporter was getting stonewalled, but she doggedly pursued the information.
❖ Omit the comma if the clause is short.
❖ The reporter was getting stonewalled and she quit.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas separate direct quotations from attribution.
❖ “Always put commas inside quotation marks,” the textbook says.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas set off words that address someone, when that name can be removed.
❖ “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas are used to separate thousands, every third number from the right.
❖ 1,000
❖ $50,000
❖ 300,000
❖ Except in street addresses, room numbers, serial numbers, telephone numbers and years.
Punctuation — Commas❖ Commas separate introductory clauses.
❖ Under the circumstances, I think I should leave.
❖ To improve her grades, she studied every day.
❖ In New York, people are always on the go.
❖ Note: In news writing try to write in a more active voice — try reversing the order of these phrases.
Punctuation — Commas
❖ Commas are used to set off years in dates, cities and states in addresses.
❖ On April 1, 1981, I moved to 39 Walnut Bottom Road, Laurel, Md., for a year.
❖ I lived in Norfolk, Va., and Palo Alto, Calif., before moving to Dennis, Mass.
Punctuation — Semicolon
❖ Use a semicolon to separate two closely related independent clauses.
❖ I don’t want to go home; I want to stay right here.
Punctuation — Semicolon
❖ Use semicolons to separate independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb like however and therefore.
❖ I don’t want to go home; however, I don’t want to stay here either.
Punctuation — Semicolon
❖ Use semicolons to separate items in a series when items contain commas.
❖ I have lived in Boston, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Athens, Ga.
Punctuation — Colon
❖ Use a colon to introduce a list:
❖ Students should come to class with three things: a textbook, a notebook and a pen.
❖ Students should come to class with a textbook, a notebook and a pen.
❖ Capitalize the first word after a colon when the next phrase is a full sentence.
❖ Her instructions were clear: Bring a textbook, a notebook and a pen to class.
Punctuation — Hyphens/ Dashes
❖ Hyphens are connectors; dashes are separators.
❖ Long-term plan
❖ 12-year-old girl
❖ Three of the best students — Wyndi, Shauna and James — were employed right after graduation.
Punctuation — Apostrophes
❖ Apostrophes are used to indicate possession or missing letters in contractions.
❖ John’s pen
❖ It’s
❖ They’re
Punctuation — Quotations
❖ Punctuation should go inside quotations.
❖ The dean said, “You must get approval from me before changing courses.”
❖ “You must get approval from me before changing courses,” the dean said.
❖ “You must get approval from me before changing courses,” the dean said. “I won’t make any exceptions.”
Punctuation — Quotations❖ Capitalize the first word in a quotation that is a
complete sentence, but not when it is an incomplete phrase.
❖ He said, “You should always submit your assignments on time.”
❖ He said you should always submit your assignments “on time.”
❖ Note: Place attribution at the end of the quote whenever possible.
❖ “You should always submit your assignments on time,” he said.
Punctuation — Quotations❖ Use the verb said instead of other words like
claimed and exclaimed, and always place said after the subject.
❖ Wrong: “I’m not a crook,” claimed the president.
❖ Right: “I’m not a crook,” the president said.
❖ Wrong: “I’m an honest man,” said the president.
❖ Right: I’m an honest man,” the president said.
Punctuation — Quotations
❖ Only use quotation marks when you are quoting someone.
❖ Wrong: The new medical school is going to be “high tech.”
❖ Right: The new medical school is going to include the latest technology, according to the president.
❖ Right: The new medical school is going to be “high tech,” the president said.
Punctuation — Quotations
❖ When possible, make each quotation a new paragraph.
❖ Use single quotes in headlines.
❖ Use double quotes in the story.
Active/ Passive Voice❖ Active voice is preferred in news writing
because it is generally more direct and requires less words.
❖ An active sentence begins with the subject followed by the verb.
❖ A passive sentence begins with the object.
❖ Active: The reporter asked hard questions.
❖ Passive: Hard questions were asked by the reporter.
AP Style — Titles
❖ A title is capitalized when it appears before a person’s name, but lowercase when it appears after their name.
❖ UVI President David Hall
❖ David Hall, president of UVI
❖ Note: Don’t capitalize job descriptions, like teacher and attorney
AP Style — Acronyms
❖ Spell out acronyms and abbreviations on first reference.
❖ First reference: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
❖ Second reference: NOAA
AP Style — Numbers
❖ Spell out numbers zero to nine, use the numerals for 10 and above.
❖ Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, etc.
❖ Note: Exceptions for ages, percentages, times
❖ 9-year-old girl
❖ 1 percent
AP Style — Dates
❖ Spell out months when they appear alone or with just the year.
❖ Abbreviate months longer than four letters when they appear in a full date.
❖ September
❖ September 2001
❖ Sept. 11, 2001
AP Style — Time
❖ Don’t be repetitive or redundant when providing times.
❖ Use lowercase and periods in a.m. and p.m.
❖ Wrong: 9:00 pm at night
❖ Right: 9 p.m.
❖ Wrong: 12 a.m. midnight
❖ Right: midnight
AP Style — Books, Songs, Movies
❖ Generally, the titles of books, songs, movies and TV shows are placed in quotations.
❖ “The Elements of Style” is one of the best grammar books.
❖ “Amazing Grace” is a beautiful and historic song.
❖ “News War” is a great documentary about journalism.
❖ Note: Exceptions for publications such as The Bible.
For more information
❖ See the “Punctuation Guide” in the “The Associated Press Stylebook.”
❖ Read “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White.