The six questions are What? Why? When? How? Where? and Who?

And it’s worth asking yourself these questions to ensure you have not missed out anything which ought to be included in your story.

You don’t have to answer all six questions.

There might be times when you choose leave out one or more of them. That’s fine, as long as you have made a conscious decision to do so.

But use the six as a checklist. Run through them as a matter of routine to assure yourself that you have not omitted anything by mistake.

What – happened?
Why – did the event to take place (the cause)?
When – did it happen?
How – did it happen?
Where – did it take place? and
Who – are the people involved?

Usually, the two most important questions are who? and what?.

News is often about people doing things (or sometimes not doing things) so the who and the what are frequently the most crucial parts of your story.

How much other detail you include is down to your news judgement and the time and space available to you.

But never try to answer all six questions in your opening sentence or paragraph.

It will result in a cluttered report and leave you with little else to write about.

Try this example.

“A climate change protester, John Smith, today drove the wrong way down the M6 motorway in Birmingham in a protest against the building of a new runway at Heathrow airport.”

All six questions have been mentioned, but the sentence isn’t elegant or interesting.

Ration your information. Use it sparingly and to good effect. Try to keep your audience interested.

In this case, the what is more interesting than the identity of the who, so something like this would have more impact:

“A climate change protester caused mayhem today by deliberately driving the wrong way down a motorway.”

There are lots of other ways of writing this story, but however you choose to start, the other details can be incorporated into the next two or three sentences.

In the next lesson we look at story construction.

This lesson is based on an article written by John Allen. The image at the top is licensed through Can Stock Photo Inc / PixelsAway in accordance with the End User License Agreement (c) – License # 1397576 and released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.

The post The questions every journalist should ask first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The bridge between one mind and another 

Chapter 1 from the book ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’

ENGLISH IS ONE OF THE MOST EXPRESSIVE AND flexible languages in the world. Its immense vocabulary provides for the persuasive and precise communication of ideas. It is a language of subtle verbal inflections, which enable the writer to project mood and emotion, to formulate thought and principle with clarity and impact, and to range fluently through a wide variety of styles from the lyrical to the prosaic.

Few other languages can rival the scope of English, whether the subject is an abstruse concept, a poetic aspiration, an evocative piece of word painting or straightforward reporting in simple prose. But, above all, English is a language which communicates thought processes with precision and logic. It is the bridge between one mind and another: the means of sharing ideas; of keeping an individual, his or her family and the whole community informed.

We are in the communications business with the specific aim of building that bridge between writer and reader, so that we can inform, influence and, at times, entertain. But we must remember that communication begins only when the reader understands what he or she is reading. In building this communications bridge, therefore, we must do as the engineer does, starting from both sides of the gap simultaneously and meeting half-way.

The writer meets the reader half-way by using language which the reader understands, by drawing on material within an individual range of experience and by stimulating enough interest so that he or she wishes to read on. The writer builds the bridge, but it is the reader who must cross it if there is to be any communication. For communication is understanding and is accomplished only by the percipient.

All too often, however, the reader never gets across the bridge, not because of  any lack of desire, but because, quite simply, the bridge has fallen away! This happens when the bridge is badly designed; when shoddy materials are used; when the very nuts and bolts don’t fit or are in the wrong place.

If language is a communications bridge, then words and phrases are the nuts and bolts of that bridge, and they must fit, they must be used in the right way and they must not be worn out through over-exposure. These nuts and bolts are the materials of our craft: words are our business. And these words must be fitted together with the skill and precision of a craftsman.

The reader must always come first. However much pride we take in our verbal skill and our sense of style, we must remember that we are not building a bridge for the writer to cross, but for the reader.

We write for a readership whose interest needs to be stimulated. This does not mean that we need to “write down” to the reader, but it does mean using English as the incisive instrument it is. Well chosen words can expose, can penetrate, can clarify. They can create a ready understanding of complicated ideas and can accurately and vividly evoke the pace and mood of any action they are recalling.

The good reporter is the one who is in the right place at the right time and who has the right word ready. Within the rich vocabulary of the English language, he or she has an abundant stock from which to choose. But the reporter must choose carefully; flair is no substitute for care.

Clarity, accuracy and simplicity

OUR primary aim in presenting news must be clarity and accuracy; and a simplicity of style which conveys meaning quickly and with an impact which compels the reader’s attention. And this can be achieved only when words do the work for which they were designed; when the writer resists the temptation to distort and misuse language for the sake of immediate effect. Glibness is not enough.

However, this is not to say that a sophisticated use of words has no place in our writing. Clearly the style will vary with the subject and treatment of it. Some news stories may be written in a light vein; others demand a hard, factual, no-nonsense approach. The same is true of features or comment pieces. The style will vary according to the material but in all these vehicles directness, clarity and accuracy are essential. And brevity remains a virtue: do not fall into the trap of thinking that “in depth” means “at length”.

There is no such thing as newspaper English; there is good English and bad English, and there is a variety of styles which may be suitable in different contexts.

Suitability is the key word. The journalist should be able to make the style match the mood of the subject. This means developing a professional polish in order that the gifts of a writer are placed firmly at the service of the reader.

Revised by John Bottomley – 2020

About this training module

Ted Bottomley and Anthony Loftus were both journalists and training managers at the Express & Star group of newspapers in the UK. The group has given this site permission to publish the module (above), which is one of six taken from the book ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’, first published in July 1971 but still relevant today. You can find links to all six chapters below.

Ted Bottomley spent his whole working life in newspapers and more than 25 years in journalism. He was a former weekly newspaper editor, and had a long association with the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He was a member of the Publishing and Editorial Training Committee of the Printing & Publishing Industry Training Board. In the UK journalists still compete to try to win the prestigious ‘Ted Bottomley Award’.

Anthony Loftus was a high court reporter and film and music critic before becoming the Editorial Training Officer of the Express & Star group. He was a member of the Institution of Training Officers and the Association of Lecturers in Journalism, and the chair of the West Midlands Regional Training Committee of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

You can read more about the book, the men behind it, and how it has been revised and updated by Ted Bottomley’s son, John, a newspaper journalist for 40 years.

The six chapters of ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’

• Chapter 1: The use of English
• Chapter 2: The essence of style
• Chapter 3: Word Power
• Chapter 4: Spelling
• Chapter 5: Syntax and sentence construction
• Chapter 6: Punctuation

The post The use of English first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The nuts and bolts of communication

Chapter 3 from the book ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’

PRECISION IN WRITING DEPENDS ON WORD POWER, without this, communication is impaired. Words and phrases are the nuts and bolts which hold the communications bridge together. The writer must, therefore, learn to recognise the exact words and phrases needed to convey meaning to the reader. And the writer must also be ruthless in rejecting any word or phrase which shows signs of fatigue through over-use.

The development of word power comes only with practice. It requires an inquiring mind and a careful attitude. Carefulness means more than simply trying to avoid careless mistakes. It also involves being concerned about quality, about taking a professional pride in one’s craftsmanship as a writer.

This is an attitude of mind that cannot be taught; it can only be caught. However, it may be helpful to point out common pitfalls.

Exaggeration

MANY errors occur because the writer overstates the case in an effort to achieve impact, and this, perhaps, is the most common occupational hazard which the journalist faces. It is this striving for effect which makes every Good Samaritan into a hero, every accident into a horror, every disturbance into a fracas, every confusion into chaos and every blaze into an inferno (in fact, a synonym for hell). It is this which leads the reporter to write of a ‘flu outbreak decimating the school population (the word means to select by lot and put to death one in ten), or of a noisy meeting being a shambles (the word means slaughterhouse).

A knowledge of word derivation helps in selecting the right word, so if you find yourself using these strong words, look them up in the dictionary and discover what they really mean.

Missed metaphors

JUST as irritating to the reader are those words used metaphorically where more direct speech would be better.

E.g. BANK RATE HITS NEW CEILING

Here the word ceiling is used to mean a limit, which it does not. The word hits suggests something solid and immovable whereas events in recent years have demonstrated that the Bank Rate is far from fixed. This sort of over-statement should be avoided.

Over-worked words and phrases

THE SEARCH for the short word for a headline has created a specialised subs’ vocabulary which makes every inquiry into a quiz, every debate into a row and every investigation into a probe. Fortunately, the trend towards the lower case headline has eased the demands of the count and there is no more scope for words that are not quite so threadbare as these.

But, whereas the headline writer is always searching for the short word. the writer often uses compound words or prepositional phrases where the short word would be better.

E.g.

adjacent to for near
at this point in time for now
in consequence of for because

These are just as unnecessary as those adverbial phrases such as: with regard to, by and large.

Try to avoid vague abstract words such as: case, instance, character, nature, condition, etc. There will be occasions when these words have to be used, but prefer the concrete word whenever possible.

2020 note by John Bottomley

Use of the following words or phrases usually adds nothing to the meaning of a sentence or phrase: Totally, and also, basically, actually, literally, essentially, in terms of.

Similarly, unattractive phrases are in common use when there is a simpler, shorter alternative: Due to the fact (because), previous (earlier), kind of (somewhat), on account of (because), plus (and), lots of (many).

Never write the phrases ‘and/or’ or ‘each and every’, use one word or the other in both cases.  Avoid the use of ‘he/she’ to meet conventions of gender, use the plural term or, if this not possible, use ‘he or she.’  

Misused words and phrases

LANGUAGE suffers when words and phrases are overworked, but it suffers more when words and phrases are altogether misused. Here are a few examples:

BULLET and CARTRIDGE are often confused. Cartridges contain explosives. but bullets generally do not. In the unfired state the bullet (normally a solid piece of metal) is part of the cartridge. Behind the bullet is the explosive charge which gives the bullet its velocity and behind the charge is a small detonator. When struck by the firing pin of the weapon this ignites the charge. So don’t refer to exploding bullets when you mean cartridges. (There are such things as explosive bullets, but these are rarely used.)

CALIBRE refers to the internal diameter of the barrel of a gun or small arms weapon. It is a unit of measurement – not weight. Hence, it is wrong to write of high-calibre bombs.

CHRONIC is a word that is frequently misused. It does not mean severe and is, in fact, the opposite of acute. Chronic means lingering. People suffering from an acute illness are normally treated in a general medical or surgical ward. The chronic sick are often incurable and are cared for in a chronic sick ward. Often these are old people and are geriatric patients. (Geriatric relates to that branch of medicine which deals with the diseases of old age. The opposite is paediatric – i.e. relating to the branch of medicine which deals with illnesses afflicting children.)

Nurses are in charge of patients. Patients are in the charge of nurses. Do not confuse the two phrases,

Another phrase that causes a lot of trouble is under way. A ship weighs anchor, but it is then under way.

Confusion also occurs in treating words as synonymous when they are not:

ALIBI is not a synonym for excuse; it means being in another place at the same time.

AGGRAVATE is not a synonym for annoy. Aggravation makes things worse (literally, to make things heavy); things that annoy irritate people.

FLAUNT does not mean the same as flout. “ Dockers flaunt court order” means that the dockers are waving the order about in a proud or provocative manner. The word should be flout – i.e. to express contempt by word or act.

LAY is frequently confused with lie. Lay cannot be used intransitively; it must have an object (E.g. “Lay down your arms “). One cannot say: “Make the men lay down “. It must be: “Make the men lie down ‘. (The verb lie is intransitive, expressing a state of being.)

Confusion also arises in the use of the prepositions between and among. Between refers to two people; among to more than two. So don’t share anything between three people.

2020 note by John Bottomley

Some common English words are in danger of losing their meaning through determined and lazy misuse. Slang words like ‘cool’ will come and go but the original meaning of these words will always remain in use. 

The fact that ‘amazing’ and ‘unbelievable’ are now used as synonyms for ‘good’ or ‘enjoyable’ in common speech should not trouble the journalist, nor should the annoying use of ‘like’ as a filler or interjection (care should be taken however in its use in quotes).

Similar but different

THERE are many pairs of words in the English language, where spelling or pronunciation is very similar but where meanings are entirely different. The pitfall here is not that the words are mistakenly thought to be synonyms, but that the unwary writer uses one in mistake for the other and thus produces an entirely different meaning. Most books on style or grammar give fairly comprehensive lists of these. The 18 pairs that follow are among those which are most frequently confused.

ALTERNATIVE (adjective) =  an available substitute

ALTERNATE (adjective) = In turns, every other one
(In ‘American English’ alternate is used to mean alternative)

COMPLEMENT (verb) = something that completes or enhances

COMPLIMENT (verb) = praise

CONTINUOUS (adjective) = without break

CONTINUAL (adjective) = recurring ( with breaks)

CREDIBLE (adjective) = believable

CREDULOUS (adjective) = believing too easily

DEFICIENT (adjective) = short of, without

DEFECTIVE (adjective = in poor or damaged condition

DEPRECATE (verb) = express wish against or disapproval of

DEPRECIATE (verb) = lower in value (intransitive verb) or disparage (transitive verb)

DISINTERESTED (adjective) = impartial, with no financial interest, with no axe to grind

UNINTERESTED (adj) = without any concern for a particular thing

ENSURE (verb) = to secure that something will happen, to make safe or secure

INSURE (verb) of a thing or person = to make sure that damages are paid in the event of loss, injury or damage

EVERYONE (pronoun) of people = all, everybody

EVERY (adjective)
ONE (pronoun)
= one of a defined number group
= every single thing or person.

EVOLVE (verb) = work out or develop

DEVOLVE (verb-intransitive) = is handed down to

EXPLICIT (adjective) = stated in detail

IMPLICIT (adjective) = implied but not very firmly stated

FARTHER (adverb) refers to distance

FURTHER (adverb or adjective) refers to quantity or distance

FORGO (verb) = abstain from

FOREGO (verb) = precede

ILLUSIVE (adjective) = deceptive

ELUSIVE (adjective) = baffling, escaping from

INFER (verb) = deduce, conclude

IMPLY (verb) = Insinuate, hint

INGENIOUS (adjective) = cleverly contrived

INGENUOUS (adjective) = frank, open

ORDINANCE (noun) = a law or decree

ORDNANCE (noun) = military weapons of all kinds

STORY (noun) = account given of an incident

STOREY (noun) = horizontal division in a building

This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Watch for similar pairs and master their meanings. Only in this way will you achieve precision in the use of vocabulary.

Redundant words

MANY words that are used are superfluous. These may be adjectives (like new innovation or added bonus) or they may be prepositions.

E.g.
Tighten up 
Clean up
Fill up

Never fill a bottle half-full. That is nonsense. Half-fill it.
Often the use of redundant words sterns from the fact that the writer does not know the meaning of the word he is using.

E.g. comprise of (comprise = consists of) or raze to the ground (raze = completely destroy, level with the ground)

2020 note by John Bottomley

The following words in brackets are also redundant in: (as to) whether, considered (to be), (so as) to, yellow etc (in colour).

Vogue words

IT IS difficult to explain how some words-such as fabulous, empathy, charisma, escalation – have become fashionable.

Perhaps a writer of prominence uses one to illustrate a point or an attitude. Then it is taken up and used with meaningless frequency by journalists and broadcasters who are anxious to be considered smart or who have become too idle to develop their own vocabulary.

E.g.

Ambience Ambivalent  Archetypal Axiomatic Cachet Catalyst Charisma Conceptual Dichotomy Empathy Seminal

It has to be recognised, however, that language is constantly expanding and developing and it would be foolish to ignore what is both new and good in modern usage. But vogue words should represent a small part of the journalist’s stock in trade.

Used sparingly such words can brighten a writer’s style; used indiscriminately they tarnish it.

In deciding whether or not to use such words ask yourself:

I. Is it the exact word I need?
2. Is there an alternative which is just as valid?
3. If not, can it be understood from its context, or does it need some qualification to help the reader?

2020 note by John Bottomley

Vogue words should, by their very definition, fall in and out of fashion but the examples given above clearly were here to stay and their place in the lexicon of common use seems assured.  Today there is an even longer list of trendy words which have crept into common use, often through the cliches of ‘business speak.’ They, too, may be here to stay but care should be taken not to fall into the trap of using these vogue words when a simpler alternative is available. 

Consider the following words now used often enough to dilute their meaning or impact and note the preferable alternative: Feedback (response), iconic (long-established), utilise (use), viable (effective), artisan (homemade or rustic).

Foreign words

MANY foreign words and phrases have become an idiomatic and acceptable part of English usage. These words have achieved acceptance because they have become part of common speech and thought, despite their foreign origins They do a specific job in a way that English does not, and for that reason have become Anglicised.

For instance, where would we be without rendezvous and communique? They no longer sound strange and long ago passed into the style and tradition of our language

That we have made these words welcome alongside our own usage is another proof that English is flexible and sensible and can use the best of other languages. But the writer’s watchword must be discretion. Don’t use words borrowed from other languages when there is an ample choice in English.

E.g. Schmalz in figurative German has come to mean over-sweet or sentimental. Chic in French means stylish, elegant, smart.

The English equivalents used here are in no way inferior re the French or the German. So, why not use them?

Americanisms tend to be even uglier. Consider the use in the United States of the participle gifted where what is meant is given. The verb is to give, not to gift. However, gifted may be used as an adjective.

E.g. A gifted child.

N.B.- Never use the Latin-based donate or donated. Use give or given. Donation is permissible where you must use it, but prefer the word gift or contribution when it can be properly substituted.

The good writer ought not to be so hidebound by rules that he cannot accept new usage, but he should respect well-established English tradition and aim for harmony without affectation.

However, where a foreign word has become idiomatic in English do not be afraid to use it. Just be sure that the word does the proper job, and remember that if you do not know what the word means it is wrong to use it. You are not entitled to ask the reader to understand more than you do yourself. Readers in any case are rarely impressed by pretentious use of words, English or otherwise. Indeed they are more often irritated and annoyed.

The following is a list of words and phrases which may be regarded as acceptable in the right context (the accents should be omitted):

aide-de-camp
aperitif
attache
avant garde
baton
blase
bourgeois
brochure
carafe
cliche
clientele
commissionaire
communique
corsage
cortege
coupe
debacle
debut
debris
double entendre
echelon
elite
entree
espionage
expose
fiance (fiancee)
facade
haute couture
impasse
largesse
laisser-faire
malaise
melee
nee
negligee
nuance
precis
premiere
protege
regime
rendezvous
risque
repertoire
soiree
venue

bona fide
ad lib
sine qua non
ad infinitum
persona non grata
per se
de jure
de facto
per annum
status quo
ad nauseam
non sequitur
ex gratia
ultra vires

However, you should be very wary of using any of the following:

Lese majeste
Bete noir
Bon mot
Demode
Belles lettres
Ingenue
De rigeur
Roue
Magnifique
Deja vu
C’est la vie
Schmalz
Wunderbar
Kaput
Dolce vita
Ciao
Arrivederci

Foreign plurals

DIFFICULTY sometimes arises in the use of plurals of foreign words. The fact that many of them have become common usage in English calls for a ruling on how to deal with their plurals, which occur in everyday use much less frequently than the singular.

Where there is no obvious confusion in the use or plurals in their original form. or where such use is not unharmonious or bizarre the original form is preferable.

Singular

Addendum
Alumnus
Cactus
Beau
Bureau
Criterion
Fungus
Graffito
Memorandum
Minimum
Phenomenon
Plateau
Referendum
Spectrum
Stadium
Virtuoso

Plural

Addenda
Alumni
Cacti
Beaux
Bureaux
Criteria
Fungi
Graffiti
Memoranda
Minima
Phenomena
Plateaux
Referenda
Stadia
Spectra
Virtuosi

There are however a number of such words which are commonly used both in speech and in writing, for which we have devised our own “anglicised” plurals. This has been done by consensus among writers of all classes, in order that confusion may be avoided, and ugly words excluded from our style.

It is not possible to classify such words, but the following list may be useful in helping to decide when to use the formally correct style, which may be less than clear and harmonious; and when to adopt a reasonable alternative.

The specific context of a story or article will dictate whether or not the formal and correct spelling is demanded. In general writing, however, words such as those listed above are acceptable, and indeed, preferable to their Latin or other plurals.

The cliche

AT ALL times the writer has to make sure that words and phrases pay their way, but there is always the danger of over-working them. English is a resilient language but it can be worn out, and the most tired of all idioms is the cliche.

The cliche is the refuge of writers who are too weary to practise their craft with care and thought. And if, in searching for variety, they are too lazy to look further than the cliche, then there will be no variety in their prose at all.

The cliche is very difficult to root out. It slips into copy so easily. But writers will be on their guard if they have learnt to recognise a phrase that is already drooping with weariness.

The following are just a few examples:

A blast from the past
A game of two halves
A shot in the arm
A shot in the dark
Acid test
Any shape or form
Armed to the teeth
As good as gold
As light as a feather
At the end of the day.
Bated breath
Bitter end
Blot on the landscape
Bounce back
Bring to a head
Burning issue
Caught red-handed
Chip off the old block
Clash of the titans
Clean sweep
Clear as a bell
Cool as a cucumber
Cream of the crop
Crying need
Cross the line
David and Goliath
Dead as a dodo
Draw a blank
Dyed in the wool
Extra special
Fan the flames
Flash in the pan
Foregone conclusion
Goes without saying
Horns of a dilemma
Interesting to note
Last but not least
Leave no stone unturned
Like rats in a trap
Loose cannon
Luck of the draw
Monotonous regularity
Moving the goalposts
New lease of life
Pie in the sky
Playing the field
Pool of blood
Read between the lines
Red letter day
Skating on the thin ice
Start the ball rolling
Sour grapes
Take the bull by the horns
The blind leading the blind
The bottom line
The eleventh hour
This day and age
This point in time
True facts
Turn a blind eye
Unfinished business
Uphill battle

Some of these cliches contain redundant words, like “true facts”, “extra special”, but all are equally hackneyed and dreary by now. By avoiding them the writer will produce clearer and leaner language.

Strangely enough, moments of stress bring out trite remarks. Any reporter who has interviewed someone in a state of shock will have observed this.

But the reporter often makes the same mistake in drawing on dreary phrases just when he is trying to inject pace into bis copy. Consider the following hypothetical example (the over-worked words and phrases are italicised):

Firemen burrowed beneath the tangled wreckage of badly-damaged houses at Coventry today in search of residents several of whom it is feared may have been entombed when a crane toppled on to them from a multistorey building now in the process of erection on the Corporation’s latest high-density housing site.

Flashing lights converged on the affected houses in King William Street, Hillfields, as police, firemen and ambulancemen raced at breakneck speed to the scene of the disaster.

Meanwhile workmen from the building tore at the tortured metal of the crane with their bare hands to free those imprisoned beneath the twisted wreckage.

Three people were rushed to hospital in a waiting ambulance as the rescue workers toiled on at their grim task. Speculation was rife as to how many remained buried.

A spokesman described the scene as “like a battlefield”. It was an “absolute shambles”, he added.

Why is it that wreckage is always tangled? How does one rush in a waiting ambulance?

It is difficult to avoid the cliche when searching for the evocative word or phrase to capture the sense of urgency. But remember over-statement will destroy the very mood you are seeking to create.

Jargon

AS THE nature of work and leisure changes, it becomes necessary to use severely limited words to express what we mean when dealing with difficult or specialist subjects.

If we do not have words within our range, which adequately express what we are trying to say, we have to invent new ones, or invest old ones with a further, and, perhaps, different meaning.

The only justification for the use of jargon in reporting is that the writer is unable to find a more suitable word. When dealing with the specialist subjects jargon cannot always be avoided. The danger is that once the writer has got to know a modest amount of gobbledygook, jargon will slip unnoticed into his style.

Jargon is most noticeable in scientific, government and legal handouts. It can often be excised painlessly, without changing the meaning. Where plain English can be substituted, this should be done. Indeed the reporter should “ translate “ jargon wherever he can do so without materially altering the sense of the original.

Far too many new and ugly words are creeping into English, words which do not add much to our understanding, or clear the lines of communication more readily.

The ugliest excrescences in our language are those growths which may be described as officialese; they really are malignant.  E.g. Hospitalisation, meaning “sent to hospital”.

There are also ugly words in industry, but you cannot always avoid them. Consider the word containerisation. This has come in for criticism from a highly regarded stylist who recommends improved packing as a substitute. But this will not do, for containerisation has a precise meaning and is related to the transport industry, not to the packing industry. So, in your eagerness to root out jargon, do not break the cardinal rule of accuracy.

The industrial and commercial fields pose special problems. Many newspapers deal in some depth with these areas and their articles are read by people who are most discerning. For these people it is annoying if the reporter confuses packing with packaging or marketing with selling. The terms are not synonymous.

Again, be very careful with stories affecting industrial relations. Redundancy may appear to be a euphemism for sacking but there is a big difference between the two meanings.

In the first case the job has left the man; in the second, the man has left the job. In the first case the man has received compensation. In the second case there are overtones of stigma, suggesting incompetence or worse.

The first objective must be to achieve precision, so before you reach out for any handy synonym find out what the word really means. And then, consider the same criteria thz; were suggested in deciding whether to use vogue words c: not:

1. Is it the exact word?
2. Is there an equally valid alternative?
3. If there is no alternative, does the term need any further explanation?

Revised by John Bottomley 2020

About this training module

Ted Bottomley and Anthony Loftus were both journalists and training managers at the Express & Star group of newspapers in the UK. The group has given this site permission to publish the module (above), which is one of six taken from the book ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’, first published in July 1971 but still relevant today. You can find links to all six chapters below.

Ted Bottomley spent his whole working life in newspapers and more than 25 years in journalism. He was a former weekly newspaper editor, and had a long association with the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He was a member of the Publishing and Editorial Training Committee of the Printing & Publishing Industry Training Board. In the UK journalists still compete to try to win the prestigious ‘Ted Bottomley Award’.

Anthony Loftus was a high court reporter and film and music critic before becoming the Editorial Training Officer of the Express & Star group. He was a member of the Institution of Training Officers and the Association of Lecturers in Journalism, and the chair of the West Midlands Regional Training Committee of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

You can read more about the book, the men behind it, and how it has been revised and updated by Ted Bottomley’s son, John, a newspaper journalist for 40 years.

The six chapters of ‘A journalist’s guide to the use of English’

• Chapter 1: The use of English
• Chapter 2: The essence of style
• Chapter 3: Word Power
• Chapter 4: Spelling
• Chapter 5: Syntax and sentence construction
• Chapter 6: Punctuation

The post Word power first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The importance of language

This is another training module from The News Manual, part of a series reproduced on this site about language and style in news writing. In this modules, we offer guidance on how to write sentences for maximum understanding and why care over language is important.

Your main task as a journalist is to help people understand what is happening around them; in their village, in their country and in the world. Most readers or listeners will not have your knowledge of language, so you must simplify it for them.

You should be able to examine the most complicated issues and events, then translate them into language which your audience can understand. If you fail in this, people will stop buying your newspaper or tuning in to your radio or television station. You will be failing in your job.

For many journalists today, English is the main language used for newspapers or magazines, radio, television or the Internet. This training module is written in English, so it concentrates on the English language. It is worth remembering, however, that even a language as common as English is not exactly the same all over the world.

There are differences between, for example, UK English and American English. There are often also differences in the way English is written or spoken within individual countries. It may sometimes be difficult to decide what is correct in the English used in your country.

Language is developing all the time, and your country may not yet have a well-established set of rules for English. If this is so, you should use the form which is accepted as correct by the most literate educated people in your country. Above all, use words and grammar which are most easily understood by your readers or listeners.

Although you are reading this in English, you may do a lot of writing in other languages. Many of the general points we make about writing style will apply to these other languages. Learn the general points and try to apply them to your own language or languages.

You may get some guidance on such things as sentence length, punctuation or word usage from your organisation’s style books. These are books which lay down rules for language you must follow in your particular paper or broadcasting station.

You should ask your editor or chief of staff for a copy of your organisation’s style book. Unfortunately, many small or new organisations do not have their own style book. In these chapters, we try to give you some general guidelines for language use and writing style. Use this advice to create your own style guide.

Short, sharp, clear sentences

Whether you write for newspapers, broadcasting or the Internet, you should always aim for words and sentences which provide the maximum amount of understanding with the minimum risk of confusion.

This generally means keeping words and sentences short and simple. You can use long words, but you must be sure they are doing their job properly. There is no room in your sentences for fat and lazy words. If words do not add to understanding, get rid of them.

Sentence length

There is no single rule about the length of sentences in news writing, but you should set yourself a target for the maximum number of words you use.

We suggest that you never use more than 20 words in any sentence, except in special circumstances. If you follow this rule, your sentences will be simpler, there will be less room for error and you will make a more efficient use of words.

An alternative way of judging the best length for your sentences is to count the number of ideas or concepts you expect your reader or listener to understand. Compare these two examples of the same story. Notice how version A tries to pack all the ideas into one sentence, whereas version B splits them into three separate sentences:

Story A: Four aircraft passengers, the pilot and three people travelling in a car were killed when a twin-engined Beechcraft Baron aircraft hit an electric power line and crashed near Nadi airport this week.

Story B: Eight people died when an aircraft crashed near Nadi airport this week.
The pilot and four passengers died when their twin-engined Beechcraft Baron hit a power line. The plane then crashed into a car on a road near the airport, killing three more people.

Notice that, although Story B is 12 words longer than Story A, it is split into three sentences. None of the sentences in Story B is longer than 20 words. Get someone to read both stories out loud to you, and you will quickly see that Story B is easier to understand.

The reason is simple. Story A contains six separate ideas for the reader or listener to understand at one time:

1. the people in the plane;
2. the people in the car;
3. the type of plane;
4. the cause of the crash;
5. the location of the crash;
6. the time of the crash.

Story B, by comparison, has fewer ideas in each sentence. The first sentence has just four simple ideas:

1. the total number of dead;
2. a simple description of the type of plane;
3. where it crashed;
4. when it crashed.

The second sentence tells us:

1. how many died in the plane;
2. the exact type of plane;
3. the exact cause of the crash.

The third sentence tells us:

1. how the people in the car died;
2. where the car was;
3. how many died in the car.

You may argue that Story B, as well as being longer, gives a total of ten ideas to understand. However, many of those ideas are not separate. They relate to details in the preceding sentence. Linking ideas and repeating details often helps understanding. More important, those ten ideas are not thrown at our audience in one breath. The full stop at the end of each sentence (which comes as a pause on radio and television) allows the reader or listener time to digest one set of facts before moving on to new details.

We recommend that you try to limit each sentence to no more than three separate ideas. You can occasionally use four ideas per sentence, as long as those ideas are not complicated. We fitted four ideas into the intro of Story B above because two of the ideas – the time and place – are very simple and easy for the reader to understand.

Lively language

The words you use will help to make your story easy to understand. Long words are not bad in themselves, if they are the only words available to explain a particular meaning accurately. However, the English language is large and varied so there are usually shorter alternatives which do the job just as well as long words.

Many young journalists think that they have to use the whole of their vocabulary when writing even the simplest news story. You may wish to show off your knowledge of the language, but your knowledge is not what matters. The vocabulary of your reader or listener is more important.

Some journalists also believe that they can only add drama or depth to a story by adding words. We get sentences like:

The man ran swiftly across the street to help the defenceless boy who was being brutally beaten.

Take out the adjectives and adverbs in italics. They are unnecessary and only slow the sentence down. The word swiftly is unnecessary because people do not usually run slowly. The boy is obviously defenceless, otherwise he would not be being beaten. And the word brutally is unnecessary, as most beatings are brutal. The sentence is now much livelier and sharper:

The man ran across the street to help the boy who was being beaten.

The most effective way to add drama to a sentence is to choose the verbs carefully. For example, try changing the verb “ran” to “strolled”, “walked”, “flew” or “thundered”. See how they alter the whole picture of what happened. We do not suggest that you change verbs simply to add drama. Every word must accurately describe what happened. But it is better to choose the correct verb than to add unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. The use of a variety of verbs is most common in sports reporting, where we read of players kicking, shooting, powering or rocketing the ball into the net.

Using new words

Many careless writers introduce new words without thinking how they will be understood. Sometimes they change nouns into verbs, in order to make sentences shorter. The danger with this is that the resultant verb is often less precise than the original phrase and is less readily understood by people. Avoid using verbs such as:

To author (use to write)
To hospitalise (use to admit to hospital or to be in hospital)
To parent (use to be a parent or to act like a parent)

You must be very careful about introducing new words which your readers or listeners might not understand. This is especially important if the word is in their second language. Stay with familiar words.

However, if you cannot avoid using a new word, you must follow it immediately with an explanation. For example, many English language newspapers and broadcasters use the Russian word glasnost quite freely when speaking of the changes in the Soviet Union. When they first began to use it, they needed to explain that glasnost means “the opening up of a society which has previously been rigidly controlled”.

There are also times when new words or usages have been readily accepted by society before the media decide to use them. It would be foolish, for example, to fight against the use of farewell as a verb in the South Pacific. People often speak of `farewelling a friend’.

Sentence structure

It is not enough to write short sentences using simple words. You also have to construct your sentences in such a way that the ideas are easy to understand.

The sentence “the man hit the table” is in the active voice (where the man is the hitter). The sentence “the table was hit by the man” is in the passive voice. Wherever possible, write in the active voice. That is the way most people speak. People do not say “the bus was missed by me”, they say “I missed the bus”.

However, there are times when you cannot avoid using the passive voice. This is particularly so when it is not clear who is responsible for the action or when the subject of the sentence is unimportant or unclear. For example we would write:

Three children have been admitted to hospital with suspected food poisoning. (Passive voice)

It would be wrong to use either of the following versions, the first because it is not clear who admitted them (was it a doctor or a nurse?), the second because we are not sure that it was food poisoning:

Someone admitted three children to hospital with suspected food poisoning.

or:

Food poisoning put three children in hospital.

Other factors which can make sentences too complicated for your reader or listener to understand include:

Subordinate clauses

You should avoid starting a sentence with a subordinate clauses. Subordinate clauses usually begin with words such as “while…”, “as…”, “although…”, “even though…”, “because …” and “despite…”. They are separate phrases within a sentence which help to put the main part of the sentence in context. In the following example of bad sentence construction, the subordinate clause is in italics:

BAD: Although there has been a 20 percent increase in murders this year, the Prime Minister has vowed not to bring back hanging.

The main point of the sentence is that the Prime Minister has said he will not bring back hanging. The subordinate clause sets this promise in the context of the rising crime rate. In the example above, putting the subordinate clause at the beginning of the sentence may confuse your readers or listeners. They expect to hear the main facts first. Rewrite the sentence as follows:

BETTER: The Prime Minister has vowed not to bring back hanging, despite a 20 percent increase in murders this year.

And and but

Even simple joining words like and and but can cause confusion if they are not used wisely. These words are called conjunctions because they join things together. The word and is quite acceptable when used to join together two words or phrases:

The man and the woman had two daughters and a son.

However, it should not be used to join together long lists of ideas which can quite easily be split into separate sentences. In the two examples which follow, the first version is confused by using and and but. By splitting it into separate sentences we do not alter the meaning, we simply make it easier to understand, for reasons we discussed in the section on sentence length:

RIGHT: Import duty on meat and vegetables will be reduced by ten percent.
The special subsidy for rice exporters will be increased by five percent. These changes will come into effect after the next budget.

WRONG: Duty on imported meat and vegetables will be reduced by ten percent and the special subsidy for rice exporters will be increased by five percent but these changes will not come into effect until after the next budget.

Paired negatives

Paired or double negatives in English are not only bad grammar (“he has not got no pawpaw”), they usually create confusion, especially in the spoken word. Although logically paired negatives simply cancel each other out, many people do not use them in this way. Many other languages have totally different rules about paired negatives, and even some British dialects use the paired negative to add stress to a negative idea.

For example, the sentence “He was happy” is easy to understand. So is the sentence “He was unhappy”. But what do you understand by “He was not unhappy”. Was he happy or unhappy? Do you see the confusion? Make it a rule: avoid paired negatives.

Objectivity

Your language must not only be easily understood, it must be fair. You should not use words which give a biased view of a person, an event or a situation.
Many words develop special, biased meanings because of the way they are commonly used in a community. In some cases, you cannot avoid using such words. Take care that the words you use reflect the meaning in the community and not your own opinions.

In particular, you should be careful about using words which describe disputes or conflicts. In these cases, each side to the dispute may choose to use the words which reflect well on them and badly on their opponents. As a journalist, you should try to steer the middle course.

The most obvious cases of bias are introduced by the use of adjectives and adverbs. A protester’s peaceful resistance may seem like violent obstruction to a policeman on duty. An injured person waiting for an ambulance may think it arrived slowly when the ambulance driver believes he drove fast.

Verbs too can be loaded with bias. The same protester who lobbed a stone at a police van may be seen by the men inside to have hurled it at them. A boss sees his workers go on strike, the workers may say they withdraw their labour. Words like sack, retrench and make redundant describe similar situations in which people lose their jobs, but they mean quite different things to the bosses and workers involved. Some American companies even speak of letting workers go, even though the workers themselves have no choice.

Nouns can also express bias. A building can be a house to a poor person, yet seem like a shack to the rich observer. It may seem to be in a suburb to its owner, and in a slum to the rich man. And who is rich? If you have $100 you will be rich to a beggar, but poor to a millionaire.

It is impossible to list all the words which may contain bias. You must look at each word individually and ask yourself if it is fair and accurate.

Quotes

You are on safer ground when you use words in quotes. That way the reader can judge the bias through the eyes of the person you quote. (In radio or television, it is better to use a recording of people speaking the actual words, called actuality.) In the following example, look at the difference between these two sentences describing the same crime. Notice how the magistrate and the accused see the crime in opposite ways:

The magistrate said: “These were mean and despicable thefts, carried out against a defenceless family for no good reason.”

The accused said: “I never robbed anyone. I just took from the rich people and gave it back to the poor.”

Do not pass judgment. Give the words in quotes and let you readers or listeners judge for themselves.

An added advantage of using quotes is that you can use much livelier language – the words the people themselves used.

To summarise

You must keep your language clear and simple so that your readers or listeners can understand.

Sentences should be short – no longer than 20 words or three concepts (ideas).

Sentence structure should be simple; it is best to write in the active voice.

Explain any new words whenever you use them.

This module is taken from The News Manual’s Chapter 10: Language & style basics.

Related training modules

Language and style – grammar

Language and style – words

Language and style – translation

The post Language and style – the basics first appeared on Media Helping Media.

How to avoid confusing your readers or listeners

This is the second module on language and style from The News Manual. In the first we looked at the basics. Here we consider the words you use to tell your story. We see how important spelling is and how to avoid confusing your readers or listeners with the words you choose. We also list some words which are better than others, words you should avoid and some words which are commonly misused – together with the correct forms. In the following two chapters in this section we will look at grammar and at translations.

So far, we have been looking at some general principles governing the way we write for understanding. We now look in more detail at words themselves – which words or phrases help understanding and which do not. Our word lists will not be complete. You must use your common sense when using words not on our lists.

Spelling

Languages are in a constant state of change. English, as the world’s most widely used language, changes faster than most. Spelling is an area in which this change is most noticeable. There are two standards in spelling – Commonwealth English and American English. Which spelling you choose will depend on usage in your country. Most media organisations decide on a particular alternative and stick to it. Here are some examples of alternative spellings:

Jargon

Jargon is specialised language concerned with a particular subject, culture or profession. It is not usually found in the everyday speech of your ordinary reader or listener. Typical of jargon are such things as medical or technical terms, understood by small groups of specialists in their own fields. For example, a coronary thrombosis to a doctor is commonly called a heart attack by the layman. Computer scientists speak of accessing data when ordinary people talk about getting information.

There is an obvious need for such technical terms in context, such as the doctor’s surgery or the computer room. Unfortunately, jargon words tend to spill over into the media. This is partly because journalists want to impress readers or listeners by their knowledge and partly because journalists do not understand what they have been told. Bad journalists find it easier to pass on the problem to their audience by simply repeating the difficult words which they have been given and don’t understand. You should first ask the person concerned to explain what they mean in simpler terms.

This is especially obvious in reporting on government and the public service. Officials often hide behind their own jargon, using it as a wall to keep the public away from their secrets. A Papua New Guinea Minister for Minerals, speaking about foreign shareholders in a big mine, was quoted as saying:

“…they were invited to participate in the development of that mineral resource and they are obligated to honour their agreement to participate.”

Put into simple English, this means:

They agreed to take part in mining and must stick to that agreement.

Notice that we have had to take the sentence out of direct quotes. You cannot drastically alter the words a person says and leave your readers or listeners believing that they were a direct quote. It is much better to use reported speech that people can understand than use quotes which they cannot.

The message is clear. If you do not understand what you are writing, do not write it. If you have a good knowledge of language, you can translate jargon yourself. If you have any doubts, go back to the people who gave you the information and ask them: “What does it mean in plain English?”

Having said that, there are times when you have to use technical or otherwise difficult terms. In such cases, you should provide an explanation for your reader or listener. This need not be complicated. In the following example, we use the term de facto and explain it within the natural structure of the story:

The immigration service says it will no longer recognise de facto relationships in issuing visas.
Officials say that in future, they will only give joint entry permits to couples who are married.
Men and women living together in de facto relationships will have to apply separately.

Always try to explain abstract jargon in concrete terms; that is, translate ideas into what they mean in the day-to-day lives of your readers or listeners. This is important in areas such as economics and government. For example, a ten percent annual rate of inflation means for most people that the dollar in the pocket a year ago now buys only 90 cents-worth of goods. An increase in the basic tax rate means that workers will get less money in their pay packet.

Public servants often take ordinary words and alter their use, making them difficult for people to understand. For example, they talk about sighting a document when they really mean they saw it. To sight something usually means suddenly seeing it from a distance. To complicate matters further, there is also a verb to cite a document, which means to quote from it. To a radio listener, “sight” and “cite” both sound the same. There are numerous examples of misuse which you should avoid whenever possible.

The following is a list of jargon words and phrases. Alongside each there is an example of a good alternative:

Unnecessary words

People frequently put in extra words or phrases which do not add to understanding. As a journalist you should judge which words help your reader or listener and which only make the sentence longer. For example, people write about waiting for a period of two years. The phrase a period of is unnecessary; you should simply say waiting for two years.

Another common fault, particularly in the spoken word, is to add adjectives or adverbs to nouns or verbs which should not have them. In grammar, this is called redundancy. It usually happens where the noun or verb is an absolute; that is, where something either is or is not, with no half measures. It is clearly wrong to describe a woman as very pregnant. A woman is either pregnant or she is not; there is a definite moment when she becomes pregnant. If the very is being used to indicate that she has been pregnant for several months, it is best to give exact details saying, for example, the woman is eight months pregnant.

It is equally wrong to describe a person as utterly dead. There is a moment at which life stops; people are either dead or they are alive, they cannot be slightly dead or rather dead. They may be nearing death, but that is a different and quite acceptable phrase.
The following is a list of unnecessary words and redundant phrases. Get rid of the words in italics:

Clichés

These are phrases which have been used so often in such a variety of situations that they have lost most of their meaning and force. They become boring to regular readers or listeners and should be avoided.

Journalists in older English-speaking countries such as Britain and the United States are usually taught to avoid clichés. There are two problems facing young journalists in developing countries in the use of clichés. One is that clichés often depend on aspects of a culture specific to certain countries. To describe something which happens very slowly, a British person might say at a snail’s pace, whereas an American would say as slow as molasses in January (a reference to the way that sticky liquids like molasses are harder to pour in cold weather). The American cliché might not be understood by many British people, who call molasses treacle. It would be meaningless to people living south of the Equator, for whom January is a hot month – and for people in the tropics who have no experience of cold seasons.

Journalists should be able to recognise clichés which develop in the language of their own country. If, for example, everyone talks about things or people being as fat as a buffalo, this becomes a cliché. The good journalist will find an alternative which is more accurate or more lively.

The second problem with clichés is that phrases which have become boring in one country may seem fresh and powerful in another. Again, it is your responsibility as a journalist to recognise which phrases are fresh and meaningful, which are stale and meaningless.
We will give you a list of phrases which have become clichés in most of the developed English-speaking nations. It is for you to decide which are clichés in your country:

Troublesome words

A large number of words in the English language are misused. Often it is simply a matter of confusion between similar-sounding words. It is important that you use words correctly. For example, there is often confusion in radio and television between the word diseased (which means having a disease) and deceased (which means dead). In fact, the word deceased causes young reporters so many problems you should avoid using it altogether. Police reports often speak of the deceased when referring to a dead man or woman. A reporter who simply parroted a police statement about a fight between two men wrote the sentence:

The deceased went up to the accused and hit him over the head with a stick.

It is clearly nonsense to say that a dead man hit anybody over the head with a stick. Dead people do not do that. The sentence would have been much clearer if the reporter had used both men’s names.

The following is a list of words which frequently cause problems, especially through misuse:

affect: is a verb meaning to have an influence on. Often confused with effect which is the noun. So we say: The girl’s headache affected her performance, but the noise had no effect on her.
all right: is two words. Do not spell it alright.
alternatives: a choice between two things. If there are more than two, use choices.
among: used when there are more than two things. If there are two things, say between.
anxious: means to be troubled or worried. It is sometimes wrongly used to mean eager.
beside: means at the side of. Besides means in addition to.
canvass: means to ask for something. Do not confuse it with canvas, which is a cloth.
charge: there is often confusion between to charge with and to charge for. A person is charged with an offence (the man was charged with murder) People are charged for goods or services they receive (he was charged $20 for his ticket).
chronic: means long-lasting. When talking about illness, it is often confused with acute, which means severe.
continual: means happening lots of times. Do not confuse with continuous, which means happening all the time without a break.
council: is a meeting. Counsel is advice. A councillor is an elected representative on a council. A counsellor is someone who gives advice. We also refer to lawyers in court cases as counsel, because they give legal advice.
decimate: literally it means to kill one in ten. Today it is used to describe heavy casualties. It does not mean to destroy.
disappeared: traditionally only ever used as an intransitive verb (i.e. without an object), as in “the rabbit disappeared”. Now in some versions of English it is used as a transitive verb (i.e. with an object, usually human) to mean to intentionally make someone disappear, as in “the regime disappeared hundreds of dissidents”, though this form is still unusual in British, Australian or American English.
disinterested: means not being directly affected by the issue one way or the other. Do not confuse with uninterested, which means lacking any kind of interest.
hang: a criminal is hanged, clothes are hung.
immigrant: a person who comes into the country to live permanently. It is confused with
emigrant, who is a person who leaves his or her own country to live permanently in another country. An emigrant from one country becomes an immigrant into another.
invaluable: means of too much value to be priced. It is often wrongly used to mean without value.
less: confused with fewer. Less refers to quantity (less water, less flour, less fruit). Fewer refers to number (fewer boys, fewer coconuts).
licence: in Commonwealth English, this is the noun. To license is the verb.
literally: usually confused with figuratively. Literally means exact to the letter. If it happens literally, it happens exactly the way it is described. People speak of being “literally dead on my feet“. If they were, they would be dead.
loan: is the noun. The verb is to lend.
over: means above. When talking about numbers, use more than (there were more than 50 people in the hall).
practice: is the noun. To practise is the verb.
principal: means the main one or the first. We speak of the principal instalment or the school principal. It is often confused with principle, which is a moral guideline.
Scots: these are people from Scotland, who are Scottish. Do not confuse it with the whisky called Scotch.
stationary: is an adjective meaning standing still. It is confused with stationery, a noun meaning writing materials.
treble: mean three times. Do not confuse with triple, which means three kinds. A treble chance gives you three chances of winning. A triple jump is an event involving three kinds of jumping action.
Ukraine: is the name of the country, not the Ukraine, which was a label used by the former Soviet Union to imply it was a region rather than an independent state.
whisky: Scotch whisky is spelled without an `e’. Irish and American whiskey is spelled with an `e’.
You can read more about troublesome words at the Common Errors in English website by Paul Brians. It is based on American English and contains hundreds of simple explanations of correct English usage.

To summarise

• You must keep your language clear and simple so that your readers or listeners can understand.
• Check any spellings you are unsure of; spelling is important.
• Explain any new words whenever you use them.
• Avoid jargon, unnecessary words and clichés.
• If you do not understand a word you cannot expect your reader or listener to.

This module is taken from The News Manual’s Chapter 11: Language & Style – Words.

Related training modules

Language and style – the basics

Language and style – grammar

Language and style – translation

The post Language and style – words first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Important grammatical rules for news writing

In this, the third module in the series about language and style from The News Manual, we look at some of the most important grammatical rules for news writing, at some common mistakes and how to correct them.

In the previous two modules we discussed the basics of structuring your stories well and using the correct words. The third element of good writing is grammar – the rules by which the words fit into the structure.

With so many people using a language as complex as English, there are lots of opportunities for making errors. We cannot possibly list them all here. We will, however, remark on some of the most common mistakes made by journalists.

Collective nouns

Some nouns which are collections of individual parts are treated as plural, while others are treated as singular. It is very much a matter of which style your particular newspaper or broadcasting station uses, but there is a general guideline. If individuals within the group act or make decisions as a single body, use the singular verb.

RIGHT: The Government said it was going to abolish income tax.
WRONG: The Government said they were going to abolish income tax.

However, if the collective group is more noted for its individual parts, treat it as a plural. This is commonly done for sporting teams.

RIGHT: The team manager said they were going to win.
WRONG: The team manager said it was going to win.

A singular noun should be treated as singular even when it contains several things. For example, we say that:

A bag of coconuts is sitting on the table.
A flock of sheep is grazing in the field.
The bus full of nurses is waiting outside.

This is because the subject of the sentence is “a bag”, not “coconuts”; “a flock”, not “sheep”; and “a bus”, not “nurses”.

Neither, none, each and every

The words neither, none, each and every are treated as singular when they are the subject of a verb, even though they refer to more than one thing or person. This is because the words mean not either one, not one, each one and every one.

RIGHT: Neither the man nor the woman is able to speak.
WRONG: Neither the man nor the woman are able to speak.

The word none is treated as singular (because it is short for not one), even though it is usually followed by a plural noun. The subject of the sentence is none (i.e. not one) and therefore needs a singular verb. The subject of the sentence which follows is not men, it is none:

RIGHT: None of the men was willing to testify in court.
WRONG: None of the men were willing to testify in court.

The words each and every are treated as singular, even though they may be followed by a long list of things they refer to.

RIGHT: Every car, bus, bicycle and rickshaw in the city has to be licensed.
WRONG: Every car, bus, bicycle and rickshaw in the city have to be licensed.

Misplaced modifiers

When you use a phrase to modify or describe part of a sentence, make sure that it describes the correct part. The rule is that the modifier attaches to the noun nearest to it. Mistakes can sometimes be very amusing. In this example, the modifier is in italics.

RIGHT: The plane came to a halt in front of the clan chief who was dressed in a grass skirt.
WRONG: Dressed in a grass skirt, the plane came to a halt in front of the clan chief.

I, me, we and us

These become a problem when you turn someone’s quotes into reported speech. It is correct to use I, me, my, we, us, and our within quotation marks, but once you take the quote marks away and write in reported speech, you have to make the following changes:

I becomes he or she,
me becomes him or her,
my becomes his or her.
We becomes they,
us becomes them,
our becomes their.
you becomes him, her or them,
your becomes his, hers or their.

Many journalists remember to change the I, me and my in reported speech but forget about the rest of the changes that have to be made. In the following example, we show the right and wrong ways of turning a sentence from quotes into reported speech. The original sentence in quotes was:

The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva: “I will do my best to protect our country.”

Turned into reported speech, it becomes:

RIGHT: The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect their country.
WRONG: The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect our country.

In the wrong version above, leaving the word “our” in the sentence implies that we, the journalist, are included in the story.

It is sometimes not enough just to change a few words. Sometimes you will have to add words of explanation. In the correct sentences above, it is clear who is speaking to whom. However, when changing quotes into reported speech it occasionally becomes less clear, especially in paragraphs later in the story. Suppose the Prime Minister then went on to tell the soldiers:

“I can do so much, but I also need your help.”

In reported speech you would then have to write:

The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect their country. He said he could do so much, but he also needed help from the army.

This would be an acceptable solution in writing for radio and television, where you should not use direct quotes in scripts. If you are writing for the print media, the best solution is to give the quotes themselves.

Its and it’s

There is often confusion over these two words. The rule is simple. Use its when referring to something belonging to it. Use it’s as a short form for it is. For example:

The wounded animal returned to its lair.
The hunter said: “It’s not clear what is happening at the moment.”

Punctuation

Here are some basic rules of punctuation used in most style books. The Golden Rule of all writing, however, is to keep it simple and clear.

Capital letters

These are used at the beginning of sentences and for the names of people and places. Capitals are also used at the beginning of words which are a titles rather than a description. For example, we write about “the Government of Sri Lanka” because that is the title of one specific body, but we write of “agreements between governments” because we are speaking about governments in general. The following example demonstrates the difference:

Eight prime ministers attended the meeting, hosted by the Prime Minister of India.

Capital letters should also be used for the trade names of products and companies. For example:

The Universal Cement Company produces cement called Cemebond.

Full stops

Called “periods” in America, full stops are used at the ends of sentences, as decimal points and with certain standard abbreviated place names. For example, in America Cal. for California or N.Y. for New York; in Australia W.A. for Western Australia or Vic. for Victoria., though it becoming increasingly common to drop the full stops in informal use. However, unless the abbreviation is one well-known to your audience, write the name in full. Journalists working for radio or television normally give the names in full.

When used at the end of a quote, the full stop comes within the closing quotation mark:

He said: “This is not what we wanted.”

Not all abbreviations use full stops. Most newspapers today do not use them to abbreviate Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Rev and similar common titles.

It used to be the case that full stops were used within abbreviations of titles. Increasingly, editors are choosing to leave them out, as in USA, PNG or UN.

Commas

The comma in written English acts very much like a pause in the spoken language. It is used within sentences to separate phrases or lists of words, as in the following example:

The company, which was only set up last year, now produces a range of goods including tyres, steering wheels, exhaust systems and windscreens.

Notice that there is no comma before the and at the end of the list.

Commas should only be inserted to help reading or listening. If you find you have several commas in your sentence, it is probably too long and should be split into separate sentences.

Semi-colons (;)

Their main use is to separate phrases which already contain commas, especially in lists:

The winners were: Bagu Lagi, geology; Jim Ho, physics; Peter Graham, Doro Meeni and Fa’afo Tokala, economics; and Nga Nganda, history.

Colons (:)

There are two principle uses for the colon in news-writing. One is at the start of lists, as in the example above. The second is when going from attribution into a quote:

The judge said: “This is not the first time I have had to deal with this kind of case.”

Apostrophes (‘)

There are several uses for apostrophes. The most common is to show possession. It is usually used in front of an s. In this example, the printery belongs to the company:

Fire last night destroyed the company’s main printery.

However, when a plural noun ends with an s, the apostrophe is not normally followed by another s:

Frank’s jokes were a great success at his parents’ anniversary party.

In the sentence above, the jokes belonged to Frank, so we add an ‘s. However, the word parents already ends in s, so we just add an apostrophe. Apostrophes are also used in contractions in place of missing letters or numbers:

“In the ‘34 gold rush, miners couldn’t get to Bulolo quickly enough,” he said.

Quotation marks (“ “)

These should mainly be used to distinguish spoken words, although some journalists use them when quoting from written reports.

Hyphens (-) and dashes ( – )

Hyphens are used to pull words together, and dashes are used to separate phrases, usually for dramatic effect.

Hyphens are used to join two or more words into one idea, for example: non-agreement, well-meant, Vice-Chancellor, mother-in-law. They are also used in some words to avoid ambiguous meaning. For example, the hyphen distinguishes between re-cover (to cover again) and recover (to get something back).

The dash (which is given more space than a hyphen) is used to indicate a dramatic shift or a surprise phrase, as in the following example intro.

David Paro arrived home from work yesterday to find an unwelcome gift on his verandah – three tonnes of manure.

Do not use the dash unless it is necessary; it can get tiresome to readers.

Question marks (?)

These should only be used after a direct question, which means they usually appear within quotation marks. Examine the following combinations to see the right and wrong uses of question marks:

RIGHT: The doctor asked Mary: “When did you last give blood?”
RIGHT: The doctor asked Mary when she had last given blood.

WRONG: The doctor asked Mary: “When did you last give blood.”
WRONG: The doctor asked Mary when she had last given blood?

Journalists sometimes wrongly ask their readers questions, particularly in writing features. The journalist’s job is to answer readers’ questions, not leave them guessing, so avoid posing questions.

Exclamation marks (!)

You should not need these in news-writing. In novels they are inserted to signify drama. If you are a good reporter your story should do that for you. You should only use them at the end of a quote which is an exclamation or an order, for example:

Mr Paro took one look at his veranda and said: “Damn!”

Ellipsis (…)

This is a series of three dots put into quotations to show that something has been missed out:

“The car struck several objects … before coming to rest against a tree.”

You should try to avoid this if at all possible, as it suggests to your reader that you are hiding something.

The ellipsis is frequently used instead of a dash in radio and television news-writing. The newsreader knows to allow an expectant pause before finishing the sentence. So in radio, we might rewrite the manure example:

David Paro arrived home yesterday to find an unwelcome gift on his veranda … three tonnes of manure.

Brackets ()

You should also avoid brackets in news-writing. They are meant to contain extra detail within a sentence, but are more often used by lazy journalists to avoid having to rewrite sentences correctly. Some newspapers allow their use when explaining abbreviations, for example:

A surgeon suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has been sacked from his job in the country’s main hospital.

To summarise

• Keep your language clear and simple so that your readers or listeners can understand.
  Sentence structure should be simple.
• Check all your work to make sure that everything you write obeys the rules of grammar and punctuation.

This module is taken from The News Manual’s Chapter 12: Language & Style – Grammar.

Related training modules

Language and style – the basics

Language and style – words

Language and style – translation

The post Language and style – grammar first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The ingredients for a powerful news story

Good stories about any topic generally have some things in common. Here are 12 points to keep in mind when you are planning, researching and producing a news story.

1: New and interesting information – something that surprises the audience and makes them say, wow, I didn’t know that.

2: Impact – Who does this story affect and how? Why is it important? This is the part that makes the audience care about an issue because they can see how it will affect them, or people they know.

3: Real people – Humanizing a big, complicated issue is one way of making it easier to understand. Putting a face on the story almost always hooks an audience, and gives us characters to tell a story.

4: Background – What’s causing the problem? How long has it been going on? Background tells us where the story has come from, and what has happened before. It offers definition and explanation. It is a reminder for the reader/listener/audience.

5: Context –  The journalist takes an individual example (which we can see and hear and relate to) and puts it into a larger context by telling us how many other people are in a similar situation, or what else is going on that is related to the example. It gives us the big picture.

6: Evidence – Most good stories use specific examples and compelling anecdotes (very short stories within the larger story), a supporting statistic or fact, and perhaps an authoritative quote to convince the reader/listener of the main point.

7: Color, good quotes – Description and dialogue can help the reader see and hear what the story is about. These are necessary for feature stories, but can also help more routine news stories come alive when used appropriately.

8: Clear explanations – The reporter/writer avoids jargon and acronyms (or defines them when they must be used) and uses words the audience will understand.

9: Accuracy and fairness – these are the fundamentals of any story because they give it credibility. A story usually has more than one side, and sometimes several.

10: Comments from experts – (and others involved in the story) for possible solutions to the problem, or explanations of what is going on. Experts or analysts are important for coverage of stories about bilateral relations, because the diplomats and government officials often make announcements or statements that are a vague and open to interpretation. Experts – from think-tanks, universities, etc. – can tell it like it is.

11: Diversity of voices – Including a range of voices makes a story more appealing. If we include enough different viewpoints, provided we have the space or time, it helps the audience understand more fully what is going on.

12: Good organization – Most successful stories have a good structure with these elements: an interesting beginning a main point that tells us clearly what the story is about and why it’s important a middle with good examples and explanations to convince the reader/listener an ending that helps the reader remember the story.

The post How to produce strong news stories first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This training module was written for a journalism training course in Azerbaijan where those attending had no previous journalism experience or training.

How to construct a news story

A journalist writing a news story is the author, organiser and decision maker. Without them the story may never be told.

They assemble the material they have at hand and which they have researched and uncovered, and then they make the most important decision of all by asking the question – is there a story?

Thousands of possible stories disappear each day because they fail to make it through this first stage of the production process, let’s try to make sure that yours don’t.

If you decide that there is a story, you then need to think through which part or parts of it are of potential interest.

This affects how you should tell the story, what angle you should take and the main points you should try to get across. Perhaps even more importantly, what you can leave out.

There is almost never enough time or space for all your material. Something usually has to go, and it’s best to start thinking about this sooner rather than later.

Despite what you may hear about the objectivity of news, you as the writer cannot help being subjective because you are applying your own judgement and values.

The important thing is that your judgement is not just a personal preference. It is guided and based on journalistic principles.

If you are knocked down by a car and break a leg, a limited number of people will be interested – your family and friends, of course, your employer, your insurance company, and just about nobody else. The incident is unlikely to make a news item.

If the president of your country is involved in a road accident, that is front-page news and probably even the lead item in broadcast news bulletins.

Is a story newsworthy?

The different responses to these two events are a matter of judgement, of news judgement.

A range of considerations comes into play every time you have to decide if a story is newsworthy or not. Here are some of them:

The source: Is it reliable, trustworthy, independent, honest, believable? If you have doubts, can you carry out checks?

The subject: Does it fit my output? If you are writing for a sports magazine, you will probably not be too interested in finance, crime, science, international trade or health, unless there is a sports angle.

The people: What interest is there likely to be in what the individuals in the story are doing? If it’s a choice between you and the president, you lose every time.

The audience: Will this story appeal to many of my readers, viewers, or listeners? There’s not much point in carrying serious financial news in a celebrity-centred popular newspaper.

The surprise: How unusual is this event or development? Something unexpected is more likely to make the news than a routine happening.

The knowledge: Is this story new or has it been published before? If so, by whom? Will it have been widely circulated, or will most people be learning about it for the first time?

The timing: Even if the story is not recent, and the event is many years old, it can still be worth running if the information has only just come to light.

The yawn: Have we just had too many stories on this subject? Let’s look for something else before we lose our audience through boredom?

What next? You have decided to run a story. One of the key stages in preparing it for publication comes next – how do you organise and structure the material?

There are two main models for news writing. One the pyramid, the other involves six honest men. We will deal with this in our next module titled ‘Essential elements of a news story’.

The post News writing for beginners first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Reporting and writing across different languages

In the previous three modules on language and style from The News Manual we look at the basic structures for news articles, the words used when writing reports, and some important grammatical rules.

In this, the final module of four, we look at these issues in the context of reporting and writing across different languages, some of the challenges of translation and some of the main dangers to look out for.

If you are a journalist working in a multilingual society, you may have to work in more than one language. Whether you gather the information in one language and write the story in another, or whether you write a story first in one language and then rewrite in another language, you face the task of translation. However, if you have a good command of both languages and follow a few simple rules, translation should not be difficult.

This module is written only in English, but the processes we describe always involves two or more languages. It is possible that English will not be one of the languages you work in when translating. To avoid confusion, we will call the language which you are translating from (or conducting interviews in) the source language; and we will call the language you are translating into (or writing the final story in) the target language.

The principles of translation

The first thing to remember is that translation is the transfer of meaning from one language to another. It is not the transfer of words from language to language. You must translate the meaning of what is being said, rather than do it word-for-word. This is because languages are not just different words. Different languages also have different grammar, different word orders, sometimes even words for which other languages do not have any equivalents. The English spoken by a scientist may have words which a simple farmer cannot even start to imagine. And the farmer is likely to have words for things the technologist never dreamed of.

Simple steps in translation

We will start by talking about the simplest form of translation – the one where you already have a story written down in one language (the source) and you want to translate it into another language (the target). The steps to follow are:

Read the whole of the original source story through from beginning to end, to make sure that you can understand it. If you cannot understand everything that is said, you cannot translate it. If there are any words or phrases that you do not understand, you must clarify these first. You may decide that the ideas they express are too difficult to translate or not worth translating, but you need to know what they are before you can judge.

Do a first draft translation, trying to translate all the source material. But do not translate word-for-word. Remember that you are translating the meaning. When you have finished the first translation, you will now have a draft story in the target language.

Go back over the whole of your draft translation and polish it without looking at the source original. (You might even like to turn the source story face down on your desk so you cannot cheat.) Make sure that your translation reads well in the target language. Compare the final version of your translation with the source original to make sure that you have translated it accurately. This is when you can make any detailed adjustments in individual words or phrases.

False friends

Beware of words or phrases we call “false friends”. These are words in the original source language which you retain in your translation, often because you cannot think of the correct translation. If you cannot think of the right word, how can you expect your reader or listener to? Of course, languages borrow from each other all the time. If a society comes across a new idea, it may simply use the foreign word without inventing a word of its own. Remember, however, that you are translating meaning, not words. If you come across a word in your original language which has no equivalent in the target language, perhaps you can use a phrase (i.e. several words) instead. For example, many languages do not have a word for “computer”. Instead of retaining the English word “computer”, can you translate it as “a machine which does brain work” or something similar? Be careful, though, that you do not try to re-invent the community’s language to suit your own way of thinking. If you have problems with translating words, consult experts or ask your colleagues to see if you can reach agreement on the correct translation. If you are a journalist working in a small language community, the words you decide upon could become the standard usage.

Of course, some foreign words will inevitably creep into other languages. Words like “computer” are becoming widely accepted by speakers of non-English languages and may eventually be understood by everyone. The problem arises in the time between the foreign word being first introduced and it being understood by everyone. During such transition periods, use the word untranslated, but follow it immediately with a translation or explanation. For example, you might write in your target language the equivalent of:

The provincial government is to buy computers for each of its local offices. The computers are machines which will help office staff to keep accounts, write letters and do other jobs.

Dictionaries

You cannot translate words in isolation. Words get their meaning from how they are used in each situation – what we call their context. You must do a contextual translation. You should use a bilingual dictionary where one is available, but be careful when looking up translations for individual words. Dictionaries are useful, but there is very often more than one translation for individual words. The best dictionary is one which defines the word in its various contexts. For example, a simple English word like “skip” has several quite different meanings. It can mean any of the following, depending on the context: to move lightly, especially by jumping from one foot to another; to omit or leave something out; to deal with something quickly and without much thought; a large container for transporting building materials, especially waste. It can even be short for “skipper”, the captain of a ship or sports team. You can see that using the wrong translation of “skip” could have some unfortunate results.

Listen to the little voice in your head if it tells you that a translation seems strange. It is better to ask advice than to write something silly. You may not know all the uses for each word, especially slang words which you cannot find in dictionaries. For example, mechanics often refer to an adjustable spanner as a “monkey wrench”, when it has nothing to do with monkeys.

Writing style

You do not have to be an expert in linguistics to make good translations. If you know your target language well, you can usually hear in your head whether the sentence sounds correct in your translation.

Your translation should not try to duplicate the word order or grammatical construction used in the source language unless it is also correct in your target language. For example, some languages put the verb (the “doing word”) at the beginning of a sentence, some in the middle and some at the very end.

You do not have to use all the words from your source material for translation if your target language can cope without them. For example, we may say in English “The ship sank lower in the water”, whereas in another language the words “in the water” may be unnecessary because the words for “sink” in relation to “ship” already includes the idea of “water”.

Also, do not be afraid of using more words in your translation than in the original. Although in journalism you should aim to keep your sentences short and crisp, this must not be allowed to interfere with the clarity of the ideas you are trying to communicate.

Some other problem areas

Translation is a very big and complicated field which we cannot discuss in great detail here. However, the following are some other problem areas you might want to keep in mind:

Understatements and euphemisms

Be aware of the cultural differences in languages. Some languages like to hide unpleasant facts beneath understatements or euphemism. Euphemisms are mild or inoffensive words which are used in the place of harsh or hurtful words.

Some speakers might use humour in one situation which another language would not permit. Again, you must understand the meaning in context.

Linking words

Words such as “although”, “but”, “from”, “even” and a host of others are usually very important in English, as they are used to show the relationships between the words in your sentences. Getting these small words wrong can alter entirely the sense of the sentence.

Verbs

These can sometimes cause problems in their different forms. There are, for example, quite distinct meanings for the words “can”, “may”, “must” and “should”. If you are not sure, it is best to avoid the construction altogether and say it a different way.

Accuracy

Some languages are more accurate than others in certain areas. For example, many language groups in Papua New Guinea have more than 10 different words for varieties of sweet potato. The Inuit Indians of Canada have different words for 20 separate things which in English we just call “snow”.

English is not a precise language in many areas. Be aware that a vagueness in English may not be acceptable in another language. For example, we can say “Doctor Smith” in English, whereas in Chinese we have to know the gender of the doctor to translate the word “doctor”.

Ambiguity

Sometimes the exact meaning in the source language is left unclear (ambiguous) on purpose, in which case you should try to keep it that way. This is especially so when reporting claims, accusations and hearsay evidence in such things as police stories. For example, a person might be charged in English with “unlawful carnal knowledge”, which usually means a sexual offence against a person under the age of consent. You should not translate that as “rape of a child” or “sodomy of a little boy” or any other specific sexual act unless that is part of the charge. It is better in this case to use a phrase similar to “a sexual offence against a young person”.

Names and titles

There is still a debate about the need or otherwise of translating names from one language into another. For example, would you retain the English title “Education Department” or translate it into something like “office for schools”? Of course, a lot depends on how the rest of your community use the term, especially those people who are most closely involved, such as the Education Department itself. Your newspaper, radio or television station may have a policy on this. If not, perhaps you should get together to decide on a policy, taking into account how the community in general deals with names and titles. Get a large, hard-bound exercise book for the newsdesk, thumb-indexed A to Z down the side. You can call this your Translation Style Guide. Once you have agreed on the correct translation for any problem word, enter the word with its translation on to the correct page in the book. Revise the book every so often to make sure that all the entries are still relevant. If your newsroom computers are networked, create a common file which everyone can access.

There are two ways people use names (or titles). The first is to identify the place or person, the second is to describe their function. It is usual to leave untranslated names which act as signposts for people, but translate those names which describe a function. For example, you would not translate the word “Baker” in the name “Baker Street”, because it acts as a signpost, but you would probably translate the name “Police Station”.
If a language used by your community is also used elsewhere in the world, you should remain aware of how it is spoken in other countries. For example, French may be commonly used in your society, so you need to keep up-to-date with how French is used in other French-speaking countries. Remember that all languages change, especially in their motherland. Constantly refresh your understanding of the way the language is developing both in your own society and elsewhere.

Translation during news gathering

So far, we have talked mainly about rewriting a story in one language into a story in another language. But your work may involve interviewing in one language and writing the story itself in another language. For example, your newspaper may be printed in English, but you have to interview a villager in his mother tongue which is not English.

The best way of doing this is to conduct the interview in the villager’s language and make your notes in that language too. You can then translate your quotes into English as you write your story. This method means that, while you are conducting the interview, you can ask questions in the villager’s language to clarify any doubtful points. You can also check your story back with him in his language to make sure you have the facts correct.

However, some languages may have been written down only recently and so may not have a clear and easy written form in which to make your notes. If this is so, and if you are fluent in both languages, you may be able to listen in the villager’s language while making your notes in English. You are translating as you listen and write. This may work perfectly well, but a word of warning: Trying to translate while also concentrating on what the villager is saying may introduce errors into your notes. Ask the villager to slow down a little so that you can make your notes, then check your notes at the end of the interview by translating them back into the villager’s language for him. Radio and television journalists can overcome this problem by using their tape recorders, but newspaper reporters might also find a tape recorder useful in such situations. You should still make notes, but have a tape recorder running at the same time so that you can check later to make sure that you made the correct translation during the interview.

There is one final complication of which you must be aware. This comes when you are interviewing in a source language, writing your story in a target language and then having to translate the same story back into the source language. This might occur if you have to produce a special language bulletin or an edition of your newspaper in the source language. The danger is that you might not get an exact translation back into the source language, and so you might misquote someone. When writing a story which has to be translated twice, always refer back to your original notes when writing your second story, so that you can get the quotes exactly right.

To summarise

As this is the last of the four modules on language and style, here is a recap of the main lessons covered in the series:

• You must keep your language clear and simple so that your readers or listeners can understand.
• Sentences should be short – no longer than 20 words or three concepts (ideas).
• Sentence structure should be simple; it is best to write in the active voice.
• Explain any new words whenever you use them.
• Avoid jargon, unnecessary words and clichés.
• Check all your work to make sure that everything you write obeys the rules of grammar and punctuation.
• When translating, translate the meaning of sentences, not the individual words.
• Always keep your readers or listeners in mind whatever you write.

This module is taken from The News Manual’s Chapter 13: Language & Style – Translation.

Related training modules

Language and style – the basics

Language and style – words

Language and style – grammar

The post Language and style – translation first appeared on Media Helping Media.