1. Week 1:
Media Writing &
AP Style

2. Table of Contents
• Getting Started
• News Values
• Commandments for Good Writing
• Abstraction
• Addresses
• Abbreviations
• Capitalization

3. Table of Contents (cont’d)
• Numerals
• Punctuation
• Preferred Spelling
• Time
• Titles
• Words

4. Getting Started

5. Qualities of a reporter
• Engaged
• Articulate

6. Engaged
• Curious
• Empathetic

7. Articulate
• Write clear, correct sentences
• Organize stories for drama

8. Changing journalism
• Convergence
– One organization operating a newspaper,
radio station, television station and Web site.
Reporters, photographers and editors prepare
stories for all media.
– Two or more organizations share stories and
information. Each delivers stories by its
traditional medium and by the Web.

9. New practices
• Backpack journalists: reporters who carry
computers, cameras and audio equipment
and file stories for Web and other media
from the field.
• Community journalists: Volunteers or part-
time workers who contribute stories or
photographs. Often the content they
create is intensely local.

10. Preparing paper copy
• Top left of first page, write ...
– Name
– Date
– Slug
• Example
– Joe Jones
– Jan. 17
– Parking protests

11. • Start 1/3 of the way down the first page.
• The slug should be one or two words
that identify the story. It should be
specific enough that an editor can
distinguish your story from similar ones.
• “Arrest” is not sufficiently distinctive.
Many people may be arrested in one
day.
• “Harrison arrest” is more distinctive.

12. On subsequent paper pages
• Indicate adds or additional pages.
– Parking protests-add 1
– Parking protests-page 2
• Indicate end of story.
– ### (circled)
– 30 (circled)

13. On all pages
• Double or triple space.
• Use one-inch margins.
• Do NOT hyphenate words.
• Use 12-point type.

14. In general
• All assignments must be typed.
• Write your assignments on a typewriter or
computer. Don’t write your first draft in
longhand.
• Edit all of your copy.

15. Copy-editing symbols
• See the inside front cover and pages
12-15 of Reporting for the Media for
copy-editing symbols and illustrations of
how they are used.
• The symbols are conventions for
marking changes and corrections in
copy in a way that is clear and speeds
the typesetting process.

16. Preparing electronic copy
• Use Word, TextEdit or DOS Text word
processing program.
• Name the file using a one-word slug
and your last name separated by an
understrike (shift + hyphen).
– Schoolfire_bender
• Put your name, the date and the slug
on the first three lines.

17. • Hit the return button two or three times
before you start the body of your story.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph
five space.
• Don’t double space between
paragraphs.
• Type ### or -30- at the end of your
story.
• If you submit your story by e-mail, put
the slug and your name in the subject
line.

18. Editing electronic copy
• Copy written on a computer cannot be
editing using the traditional copy-editing
marks.
• But electronic copy must be edited
carefully.
• Many news organizations use software
that tracks who made what changes, like
Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes”
feature.

19. News Values

20. What is news?
• What people talk about.
• What editors say it is.
• Something that wasn’t known yesterday.
• What’s interesting and important to many
people.

21. News values
• Timeliness
• Impact
• Prominence
• Proximity
• Singularity
• Conflict or Controversy
• Other Characteristics

22. Timeliness
• How recent are the events?
• The more recent the events, the more
newsworthy they are.
• News organizations constantly update
stories to emphasize the most recent
important developments. They also
follow what other organizations are
reporting so they know what is new.

23. Impact
• How many people will a story affect?
• The more people affected, the more
important the story.
• A story about a citywide street-
improvement plan will affect more people
than a story about a jewelry store burglary.

24. Prominence
• How well known are the people involved
in the story?
• Stories about famous people are more
newsworthy than stories about
unknowns.
• When an ordinary person catches a cold,
only friends and relatives care. When the
president catches a cold, the stock
market may fall.

25. Proximity
• Events that happen close to home –
where the newspaper or broadcast station
is located – are more newsworthy than
events elsewhere.
• A traffic accident in your town is more
newsworthy than a similar accident in
another town 30 miles away.

26. Singularity
• Events or situations that deviate from
what is ordinarily expected are more
newsworthy than stories about routine
events.
• When someone shoots and kills several
students in a school, that is more
newsworthy than the routine events in
thousands of other schools that day.

27. Conflict
• A story about a conflict between two
legislators is more newsworthy than one
about legislators who agree.
• Sometimes news organizations have
overemphasized conflict and overlooked
the importance of cooperation.
• The public journalism movement
attempts to address that imbalance.

28. Other Characteristics
• Factors affecting story selection:
– Humor.
– Focus on events.
– The medium (broadcast vs. print; weeklies vs.
dailies).
– Size of the community.
– Traditions and practices of the organization.

29. Types of news
• Journalists talk of hard and soft news.
• Hard news includes breaking stories of
broad impact: crimes, wars, disasters,
labor disputes, major legislation.
• Soft news includes feature stories and
human interest. Such stories are not
linked to specific events and may be
newsworthy anytime.

30. Public journalism
• Public, or civic, journalism encourages
readers and viewers to participate in
public life.
• Typically, practitioners of public
journalism try to find out what citizens are
interested in and then cover those issues.
• Public journalists also try to show how
problems can be solved.

31. News stories are…
• Written in the third person.
• Written in the past tense.
• Free of the writer’s opinions.
• Accurate.
• Concise.
• Complete.

32. Objectivity
• News stories should report facts and
the opinions of knowledgeable sources,
not the opinions of reporters and
editors.
• While no person can be completely
objective, journalists strive to be
impartial in the way they gather and
report the news.
• Seeking multiple sources with different
points of view enhances objectivity.

33. Accuracy
• Readers and viewers expect accuracy
and they are angry when news stories
are not.
– Confirm all dates, addresses, amounts and
other specific facts.
– Confirm the spellings of all names.
– Don’t assume a statement that sounds
accurate is accurate.

34. Some things news reports omit
• Offensive details
• Sensationalism
• Rumors
• Names of rape victims
• Unnecessary racial identifications

35. Commandments for Good Writing

36. Tips from a professional
• Bud Pagel, who was a reporter for the
Miami Herald and the Omaha World-
Herald and who taught news reporting and
writing at the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln, created these 15 commandments
for good writing.

37. Commandment 1
• Thou shalt write understandably.
• Compare the following passage and the one on
the next slide.
– Q. How would you recommend to treat that condition?
– A. I would recommend immersion over an extended period of
time in a total living environment which the elements of the living
situation have been set up to have a therapeutic outcome in the
defendant’s case possibly a projection on responsibility on to
others and denial of responsibility with one aspect of it or failure
to identify existing problems in a blind spot kind of way where we
would have confrontations between staff and/or encounters
between staff and the defendant in these instances in which
those kinds of verbalizations or those kinds of situations came to
pass. In other words, there would be immediate consequences
for engaging in those kinds of behavior which were
nonproductive.

38. – To gramma and grampa,
– My mommy is sick. My brother is sick. My
other brother is sick. My daddy is a little sick.
And I am sick.
– Love, Michael

39. Commandment II
• Thou shalt use short, simple declarative
sentences.
• Compare the passages on the next two
slides.

40. – One resident, Trina Greenhouse of 9575
Holbrook Drive, suffered minor injury and was
transported to Regional Medical Center after her
eyes became exposed to fuel from the Cessna’s
fuel tank, which smashed to the ground in front of
her home.
– The Cessna’s fuel tank crashed to the ground in
front of Trina Greenhouse, 9575 Holbrook Drive.
Greenhouse was standing on her porch when the
crash occurred and was sprayed with fuel. She
complained that fuel burned her eyes, and she
was taken to the Regional Medical Center.

41. • UNICEF officials, who have found that 40,000
children die each day, mostly in developing countries,
call the death toll "the greatest single stain on our
civilization today," and are asking for an
unprecedented world summit to save the lives of an
estimated 100 million children in the next decade by,
during each of the next 10 years, taking the money
spent in a single day on the world's military forces
and reallocating that money to feed the hungry.
• UNICEF officials say 40,000 children die of hunger
each day, mostly in developing countries. They call
the deaths "the greatest single stain on our
civilization today." The officials estimate taking one
day’s spending on the world’s militaries each year for
10 years and using it to feed children would save 100
million lives.

42. Commandment III
• Thou shalt prefer the familiar word.
– Preliminarily the concept appeared to
permit attainment of all our criteria; but,
when we cost it out, we have to question
its economic viability.
– REVISED: The proposed plan for
downtown redevelopment looks good on
paper, but it may cost too much.

43. • These two examples show what can
happen if you use words you’re not familiar
with:
– Please accept my apologies for the deliquesce
of this letter.
• “Deliquesce” means to melt away; the writer
probably meant “delinquency,” although “lateness”
might have been better.
– So what you have described as abuse in fact
represents adaptness and proficiousness in
the use of the act. (Testimony before the U.S.
Senate on the FOIA.)
• The speaker probably meant “adeptness” and
“proficiency.”

44. Commandment IV
• Thou shalt write short, one-thought
paragraphs.
• Compare the next two slides.

45. • Here’s one long paragraph that’s hard to
read.
– A disappointing report on retail sales pushed U.S.
stock markets lower Wednesday morning. The
Dow Jones industrial average dropped 170 points,
largely because the stocks in financial institutions
were losing value. The market also responded to
disappointing earnings reports from John Deere,
which manufactures farm equipment, and Macy’s,
the large retailer. The Standard & Poor’s index of
500 stocks lost 1.04 percent.

46. • Breaking it into shorter paragraphs and
rearranging the information makes it
more understandable.
– A disappointing report on retail sales depressed
U.S. stock markets Wednesday morning.
– The large retailer Macy’s reported lower-than-
expected earnings, as did John Deere, the maker
of farm equipment.
– Lower prices for stock in financial institutions
pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down
170 points. The Standard & Poor’s index of 500
stocks lost 1.04 percent.

47. Commandment V
• Thou shalt write concisely.
• Stay away from “there is.”
• Watch out for redundant modifiers
(completely destroyed).

48. • Eliminate wordy phrases, like “at this
point in time” instead of “now.”
• Watch detour words like “involved” and
“-ing” verbs.
– WORDY: The officers proceeded to frisk
the suspect.
– BETTER: The officers frisked the suspect.

49. • Another example of wordy writing:
– WORDY: There exists at the intersection a
traffic condition which constitutes an
intolerable, dangerous hazard to the health
and safety of property and persons utilizing
such intersection for pedestrian and
vehicular movement. (31 words)
– BETTER: The intersection is dangerous. (4
words)

50. Commandment VI
• Thou shalt put action in your verbs.
• Avoid adjectives and adverbs, which steal
power from your writing.
– NOT: The fast-moving cars went around the
track quickly.
– BETTER: The cars flashed around the track.

51. Commandment VII
• Thou shalt be precise.
• The placement of words can change the
meaning of a sentence. In the following
example, replace the first asterisk with
“only,” then move “only” to the second
asterisk, and so on. Notice how the
meaning changes.
• *I *kissed *her *on *the *cheek *tonight*.

52. Commandment VIII
• Thou shalt use specifics rather than
generalities.
– How old is old?
– How fat is fat?
– How short is short?
– How tall is tall?
– WEAK: A period of unfavorable weather set in.
– BETTER: It rained every day for a week.

53. Commandment IX
• Thou shalt use concrete words instead of
abstracts.
– ABSTRACT: He showed satisfaction as he
took possession of his well-earned reward.
– CONCRETE: He grinned as he stuffed the
$20 bill in his wallet.

54. Commandment X
• Thou shalt write with logical progression.
• The second and later paragraphs should
develop the lead. Include background
later.
• Here’s a violation of logical progression:
– Nebraska corralled the Colorado Buffaloes 75 to
3 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
– Tom Osborne was born in Hastings, Neb., in
1937.

55. Commandment XI
• Thou shalt have an antecedent for each
pronoun.
– Breslin is on the list, he said, because he
voted against a federal strip-mine bill. Breslin
said he did that because it is a state, not a
federal function.
• What is the antecedent of “it” in the above
example?
• Pronouns must agree with their
antecedents in number and gender.

56. Commandment XII
• Thou shalt observe the nearness rule: Put
modifiers near the word they modify.
– WRONG: Pope Paul also forbade cardinals to
bring in assistants, except for those gravely ill.
– BETTER: Pope Paul also forbade cardinals,
except for those gravely ill, to bring in assistants.
– OR: Pope Paul also forbade cardinals to bring in
assistants. He excepted cardinals who were
gravely ill.

57. Commandment XIII
• Thou shalt put statements into positive
form.
• Not honest = dishonest.
• Not important = trifling, minor.
• Did not remember = forgot.
• Did not pay attention = ignored.
• Did not have much confidence in =
distrusted.

58. Commandment XIV
• Thou shalt use transitional words to
keep the reader informed of time, place
and mood changes.
– TIME: Sometimes, a decade ago,
meanwhile….
– PLACE: Ahead, down the hall, in the
middle of….
– MOOD: Yet, if, but, and, despite….

59. Commandment XV
• Thou shalt write to the central point.
• Writing is a craft that requires discipline.
• The most important discipline is identifying
a clear central point for each piece and
sticking to it.
• Sentences, quotations, anecdotes that do
not bear on the central point should be
eliminated, no matter how interesting they
may seem.
• Writers who fail to stick to their central
point are likely to lose their readers.

60. Abstract vs. Concrete Writing

61. All language is abstraction
• Words are symbols that stand in for what
one is discussing.
• Some words are more abstract than
others.
• Abstraction makes reading more difficult.
• Abstraction reduces the detail.

62. Example from George Orwell
• Orwell offered the following sentence as
an example of the foggy writing that afflicts
political speech.
– Objective consideration of contemporary
phenomena compels the conclusion that
success or failure in competitive activities
exhibits no tendency to be commensurate
with innate capacity, but that a considerable
element of the unpredictable must inevitably
be taken into account.

63. Same idea from Ecclesiastes
• Here’s the same idea from the Book of
Ecclesiastes, but written in clearer, more
concrete terms.
– I returned, and I saw under the sun, that the
race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet
riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor
to men of skill; but time and chance
happeneth to them all.

64. Ladder of Abstraction
• Words may be ranked by their level of
abstraction.
• Each higher level of abstraction
represents a step up the ladder.
• As abstraction increases, detail is lost.
• Abstract words may apply to a number of
situations, some of which may be
contradictory.

65. Example of abstraction ladder
• animal
• mammal
• quadruped
• cow
• Holstein
• “Bessie”
• the thing itself

66. Make your writing more concrete
• Specific, concrete words are easier to
understand.
• Concrete details, images add information.
• Details make people, places, events more
interesting.

67. Use concrete details
• She is 5 feet tall and would weigh 100
pounds with rocks in her pockets. Her
voice is so soft that it disappears in the
squeak of the screen door and the hum of
the air-conditioner.
– Rick Bragg, The New York Times

68. Blend quotes and description
• “I see them out there on the floor,
having so much fun, and here I am,”
she stretches out two long, tan arms as
if holding a tray of drinks, “working. But
then I think, ‘I’m making money and
they’re spending it,’” Weston says, as a
big smile spreads across her face,
accentuating her high cheekbones.

69. Use anecdotes
• "I remember them (prisoners) walking in
columns," he said. He grew up seeing
guards with machine guns and told a
story of a prisoner who stepped out of
line and was shot in the presence of
children. He paused for a moment, then
said, "These memories are quite vivid.
You never forget them."

70. Use analogies
• A confined aquifer is like a double-crust pie
that has a top and bottom crust to protect the
filling. The filling of a confined aquifer is a
vein of permeable sand and gravel.
Enclosing that filling are two layers of glacial
till, or clay. The clay layers block absorption
of surface water, leaving the water running
through the layer of gravel and sand free of
pollutants from the surface, state geologist
Sally Weston said.

71. • An unconfined aquifer, however, is like a
single-crust pie which has no top crust to
protect the filling.
• The city of Seward rests on a single-crust
pie. The water-bearing layer of permeable
sands and gravels sits above a thick layer
of impermeable clay, Weston said. Wells
can be drilled only so deep, and there is
no layer of impermeable clay above the
groundwater to seal out contaminants.

72. Addresses

73. Addresses
• Always use numerals for specific
addresses.
– 9 Morningside Circle
– 325 Main St.
– 9548 Oak St.

74. Directions
• Abbreviate compass points used to
indicate directional ends of a street or
quadrants of a city in a numbered
address.
– 562 W. 43rd St.; 600 Holmes St. N.W.
• Do not abbreviate if the numbered
address is omitted.
– She lives on South 33rd Street.

75. Streets
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth
when used as street names.
• Use ordinal numerals for 10th and above.
• Abbreviate St., Ave. and Blvd. only with a
numbered address.
– He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
– He lives on Pennsylvania Avenue.
• All similar words (alley, drive, road,
terrace) are always spelled out.

76. Addresses in broadcast copy

77. In general
• Use addresses only when they are
specifically relevant to the story.
• Spell out one through eleven. Use
numerals for 12 and higher.
• Hyphenate numbers read as two-digit
groups:
– 27-35 Oak Street.

78. Streets
• Use words for streets named First through
Eleventh.
• Use numerals for streets 12th or higher.
• Spell out all terms for streets – such as
avenue, boulevard, circle, road, street,
terrace – in all contexts.

79. Abbreviations

80. Company
• Abbreviate and capitalize company,
corporation, incorporated, limited and
brothers at the end of a company’s name.
– Ford Motor Co., Gateway Inc., General Motors
Corp., Warner Bros., Bright Signs Ltd.
• Do not use a comma before the
abbreviation.
• Do not abbreviate or capitalize any of these
words when used alone.
– The company refused to pay overtime.

81. Degrees
• Avoid abbreviating academic degrees.
• Use phrases:
– He has a doctorate in psychology.
– She has a master’ s in economics.
• Use apostrophes: bachelor’ s, master’ s,
doctor’ s degree.
• Use abbreviations – B.A., M.A., M.B.A.,
Ph.D. – only when other forms
cumbersome.

82. Do not abbreviate
• assistant • professor
• association • superintendent
• attorney • days of the week
• building • Do not use an
• district ampersand (&) in
• government place of and in news
stories.
• president

83. Initials
• Only a few organizations are so well know
that they may be identified by their initials
on first reference.
– FBI, CIA, NASA, YMCA
• For other organizations, use the full name
on first reference.
• On second reference, use abbreviations or
acronyms only if they would be familiar to
the reader. See AP Stylebook for guidance.

84. • A few other organizations are known only
by their initials. A few examples are:
– AARP (formerly the American Association of
Retired Persons),
– NCR Corp. (formerly National Cash Register
Co.),
– SAT (formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test or
Scholastic Assessment Test) and
– 3M (formerly Minnesota Mining &
Manufacturing).
• Look up organization names in the
Stylebook.

85. Junior/Senior
• Abbreviate and capitalize junior or senior
when used after a person’s name.
– John Jones Jr.
• Do not use commas to separate the name
from Jr. or Sr.

86. mph/mpg
• The abbreviation mph is acceptable on
first reference for miles per hour.
• The abbreviation mpg is acceptable only
on second reference for miles per gallon.
• Do not use periods in either abbreviation.

87. States
• Abbreviate state names only when used
with the name of a town, city or other
subdivision.
– Albany, N.Y.
– Baton Rouge, La.
• Always use periods with abbreviations
of state names.
• Use only AP abbreviations for states;
never use Postal Service abbreviations.
• Some state names are never
abbreviated.

88. Titles
• Abbreviate the following titles when
used before a name: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov.,
Rep., the Rev., Sen. and certain military
titles, such as Sgt., Capt. and Adm.
(See AP Stylebook for all military titles.)
– Gov. Smith announced $5 billion in budget
cuts.

89. • Spell out all titles, except Dr., when used
before a name in a direct quotation.
– “Governor Smith promised budget cuts,” he
said.
• Spell out all titles when used alone without
a name.
– The senator promised he would check the
status of the captain’s disability claim.

90. U.S./U.N.
• United Nations and United States may
be abbreviated as U.N. and U.S. when
used as nouns or as adjectives.
– The U.N. deployed its peacekeeping force
Friday.
– The president said U.S. policy would not
change.
• Use periods and no spaces in both
abbreviations.

91. Abbreviations in broadcast
copy

92. Company
• Whenever possible, use informal
constructions rather than formal
company names.
– Ford executives unveiled plans for a new
model….

93. • Do not abbreviate company or other words
that are part of a corporate entity’s name.
• Use commas before limited and
incorporated.
– The Smith Corporation, Limited, announced a
loss for the fourth quarter.

94. Initials
• Avoid using initials to refer to
organizations, unless they are familiar
to the listeners.
• Use hyphens between initials.
– C-I-A
– F-B-I

95. • Do not use hyphens when the
organization’s initials are pronounced as a
word.
– NASA

96. States
• Do not abbreviate state names in body
of a story or in a dateline.
• Put a comma between the name of the
city and the state and another comma
after the name of the state unless it
ends a sentence.
– The tornado hit Galena, Kansas, and
Joplin, Missouri.

97. Titles
• Abbreviate Mr., Mrs., Ms. and Dr. when
used before a name.
• Do not abbreviate any other titles.

98. U-N/U-S
• U-N and U-S are acceptable in all
references for United Nations and United
States and may be used as either nouns
or adjectives.

99. Capitalization

100. In general
• Do not capitalize words unnecessarily.
• Use capital letters only as required by the
rules summarized here or in the AP
Stylebook.

101. Academic departments
• Use lowercase except for proper nouns
that are part of a department’s name.
– the history department
– the department of history
– the English department
– the department of English

102. Awards/events/holidays/wars
• Capitalize awards.
– Medal of Honor
• Capitalize historic events and periods.
– the San Francisco Earthquake; the Great
Depression
• Capitalize holidays.
– Thanksgiving Day
• Capitalize wars
– The Civil War; World War II

103. Bible/God
• Capitalize Bible, without quotation marks,
to refer to the Old and New Testaments.
• Quran is the preferred spelling for the
Muslim holy book, and it, too, should be
capitalized.
• Capitalize God or Allah to refer to
monotheistic deities; lowercase pronouns
referring to the deity.

104. Brand names
• Capitalize brand names.
– Pontiac
– Coke
– Kleenex
• Lowercase generic terms.
– sedan
– cola
– facial tissue

105. Buildings/Rooms
• Capitalize the proper names of
buildings, including the word building if
that is part of the name.
– Empire State Building
• Capitalize the names of specifically
designated rooms and the word room
when it’s used with a number.
– the Blue Room
– Room 345

106. Capitol
• Capitalize U.S. Capitol and the Capitol
when referring to the building where
Congress meets.
• Capitalize Capitol when referring to the
building where a specific state legislature
meets.
– the Indiana State Capitol

107. Congress
• Capitalize U.S. Congress and Congress
when referring to the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives.
• Lower case congressional, unless it is part
of a proper noun, such as the Congressional
Record.
• Capitalize legislature and similar terms when
referring to specific state legislative bodies.
– the Kansas Legislature

108. Constitution
• Capitalize references to the U.S.
Constitution, with or without the U.S.
modifier.
• Capitalize Bill of Rights and First
Amendment (and all other
amendments).
• Lowercase the adjective constitutional.

109. Directions/Regions
• Lowercase north, south, southwest, etc.,
when they indicate a compass direction.
– Des Moines is north of Kansas City.
• Capitalize such words when they indicate
a region.
– The storm hit Northeast states hardest.
• Capitalize names of well known regions.
– the Deep South; the East Side of Manhattan;
Southern California.

110. Do not capitalize
• administration • years in school
• first lady (sophomore, junior,
• first family etc.)
• Also, lowercase the
• government
common-noun
• presidential elements of proper
• presidency names in plural
• priest uses.
• seasons (fall, winter, – Elm and Main streets
etc.) – the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers

111. Earth
• Generally, lowercase earth.
– She is a down-to-earth person.
• Capitalize when it’s used as the proper
name of the planet.
– Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth.

112. Government
• Capitalize city, county, state and federal
when part of a proper name.
– Crawford County Commission
• Capitalize city council, city hall, police
department, legislature and assembly
when part of a proper name.
– Boston City Council; Chicago Police
Department; Florida Legislature

113. • Retain capitalization when the context
makes clear the reference is to a specific
body.
– the City Council; the Police Department; the
Legislature

114. Highways
• Use these forms for highways identified by
number.
– U.S. Highway 1; U.S. Route 1; U.S. 1; Illinois
34, Illinois Route 34; state Route 34;
Interstate 495; Interstate Highway 495.
• On second reference, use I-495.
• When a letter is appended to a highway
number, capitalize it.
– Route 1A

115. Military
• Capitalize the names of U.S. armed
forces.
– U.S. Army
– the Navy
– Marine regulations
• Lower case the forces of other nations.
– the French army

116. Nationalities/Race
• Capitalize proper names of nationalities,
races and tribes.
– French; Arab; Caucasian; Eskimo
• Lowercase words such as black, white
and mulatto.
• Do not use colored; in the United States,
the word is considered derogatory.
• Do not identify people by race unless it is
necessary to the story.

117. Plurals
• To form the plurals of a number, add s
with no apostrophe.
– 1920s
• To form plurals of a single letter, add
’ s. To form plurals of multiple letters,
add only s.
– Mind your p’s and q’s.
– She knows her ABCs.

118. Political parties
• Capitalize both the name of the party
and the word party.
– the Republican Party
• Also capitalize Communist, Socialist,
Libertarian when they refer to a
specific party or party member.

119. • Lowercase references to a political
philosophy
– The Libertarian candidate received 348
votes.
– The foundation advocates libertarian
policies.
• Use a D or an R and the abbreviation for
the state to identify members of
Congress.
– Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., …
– Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., …

120. • Use a D or an R and home town or
district to identify members of state
legislatures, city councils or other
legislative bodies elected on a partisan
basis.
– State Sen. Joe Adams, R-Walnut, …
– Councilwoman Alice Goode, D-3rd District,
…

121. Proper nouns
• Capitalize proper nouns, which uniquely
identify persons, places or things.
– Mary
– Boston
– the Columbia River
• Lowercase common nouns when they
stand alone.
– the city
– the river

122. Satan
• Capitalize Satan, but lowercase devil and
satanic.

123. Titles
• Capitalize formal titles used immediately
before a name.
– Mayor Donna Rodgers
• Lowercase titles used after the name or
alone.
– Donna Rogers, mayor of Walnut,….

124. • Lowercase words that are job
descriptions rather than titles.
– movie star Tom Hanks
• Do not capitalize professor when used
before a name.
– He thanked professor Betty Falk for her
advice.

125. Capitalization for broadcast
copy

126. In general
• Capitalization rules for broadcast copy are
nearly identical to those for print copy.
• See the AP Stylebook and the AP
Broadcast News Handbook for more
specifics.

127. Government
• Always refer to governmental bodies by
the name that is most familiar to the
audience.
• Capitalize full proper names, and
hyphenate U-S when that’s part of the
name.
– U-S Defense Department

128. Numerals

129. In general
• Spell out all cardinal numbers below 10
and ordinal numbers below 10th.
• Use numerals for cardinal numbers 10
and above and ordinals 10th and
above.
• Spell out all numbers, except for
calendar years, that start a sentence.
• Avoid starting sentences with numbers
or years.

130. Ages
• Use numerals for all ages, even those less
than 10.
• Hyphenate ages expressed as adjectives
before a noun.
– a 5-year-old boy
– The boy is 5.

131. Cents
• Spell out the word cents and lowercase
and use numerals.
– 5 cents
• Use the dollar sign and decimals for
amounts larger than a dollar.
– $1.01

132. Decades/centuries
• Use Arabic figures for decades. Use an
apostrophe to indicate omitted
numbers. Show plurals by adding an s
without an apostrophe at the end.
– 1920s; the ’30s
• Lowercase century and spell out
numbers less than 10.
– the first century; the 21st century

133. Dollars
• Lowercase dollars. Use figures and the
$ sign for all except casual references
or amounts without a figure.
– The book cost $4.
– The economy is as sound as dollar.
• For amounts of $1 million or more use
numerals and up to two decimal places.
– He is worth $4.35 million.
– She proposed a $400 million budget.

134. Election returns/vote tabulations
• For election returns, use the word to
(not a hyphen) to separate different
totals.
– Smith won re-election by a vote of 2,356 to
2,118.

135. • For election results that involve fewer
than 1,000 votes on each side, use a
hyphen.
– Smith won re-election by a vote of
235-211.
• Spell out numbers below 10 in other
phrases.
– the five-vote majority

136. Fractions
• Spell out amounts less than one, using
hyphens between the words.
– one-half
– four-fifths
• For precise amounts larger than one,
convert to decimals, whenever
practical, and use numerals.
– 1.25 inches

137. Measurements/dimensions
• Use figures for amounts and spell out feet,
inches, yards, etc. Hyphenate adjectival
forms used before a noun.
– He is 5 feet 6 inches tall.
– The 5-foot-6 man….
– The rug is 9 feet by 12 feet.
– The 9-by-12-foot rug….

138. Million/billion
• Do not go beyond two decimal places.
– 7.51 million people
– $2.6 billion budget
• Use decimals, not fractions.
– 1.5 million, NOT 1½ million

139. • Do not drop the word million or billion from
ranges.
– The project will cost $2 billion to $3 billion.
(NOT $2 to $3 billion, unless that’s what you
mean.)

140. Number
• Use No. as the abbreviation for number
when used with a figure to indicate
position or rank.
– the No. 1 candidate
– the No. 3 post

141. Odds
• Use figures and a hyphen for betting odds.
– The odds were 5-4.
– He won despite the 3-2 odds against him.

142. Percentages
• Use figures for all amounts, even those
less than 10.
– 1 percent
– 17 percent
• Always spell out the word percent;
never use the % symbol.
• For amounts less than 1 percent, use a
zero and a decimal point.
– The cost of living rose 0.6 percent.

143. Ratios
• Use figures and a hyphen for ratios.
– The ratio was 2-to-1.
– The 2-to-1 ratio….
– The 2-1 ratio….

144. Scores
• Use figures for all scores with hyphens
between the winning and losing scores.
– The Reds defeated the Cubs 4-1.
– The Giants posted a 35-27 victory over the
Jets.
– Woods had a 5 on the last hole but finished
with a 2-under-par score.

145. Temperatures
• Use figures for all temperatures, except
zero, and spell out degrees.
– The high Wednesday was 5 degrees.
• Use the word minus, not a hyphen, to
indicate temperatures below zero.
– The overnight low was minus 10 degrees.

146. Weights
• Use figures for all weights. Spell out
pounds and ounces.
– The police seized 2 pounds of marijuana and
13 ounces of cocaine.

147. Numerals for broadcast copy

148. In general
• Spell out one through eleven. Use
numerals for 12 through 999.
• For numbers above 999, use words or
combinations of numerals and words.
– Nearly two-thousand students attended the
lecture.
– Authorities estimated 12-thousand homes
were damaged by the storm.

149. • Use hyphens to combine numerals and
the words hundred or thousand.
– The hurricane damaged nearly 12 hundred
homes and 200 businesses.
• Hyphens are not needed with the words
(m) million, (b) billion or (t) trillion, but
always use the letter in parentheses to
confirm the unit.
– The comet will travel seven (m) million miles.
– The government estimates 234 (m) million
vehicles are on the roads in the U-S.

150. • Use the same rules for ordinals. Spell out
first through eleventh. Use numerals and
st, nd, rd or th for larger numbers.
– first; third; tenth
– 12th; 21st; 32nd; 43rd; 77th

151. Ages
• Follow the general rule of spelling out
numbers less than 12.
– the five-year-old girl…
– The boy is eleven.
– The suspect is 36 years old.
• Do not follow a person’s name with the
age set off with commas.
– WRONG: Smith, 26, has two children.
– RIGHT: Smith is 26. He has two children.

152. Betting odds
• Use figures, hyphens and the word to.
– 3-to-2 odds
– the odds were 3-to-2
• Spell out the numbers when a sentence
starts with odds.
– Three-to-two were the odds on success.

153. Cents
• Always spell out cents. Spell out amounts
less than 12.
– five cents
– 25 cents

154. Decimal units
• Spell out decimal amounts and the
word point. Use oh in place of zero.
– five-point-three
– point-oh-six
• Use decimal values only when directly
relevant to the story. Convert to
fractions when possible.
– three-point-five
– BETTER: three and a-half.

155. Dimensions
• Spell out such words as feet, inches,
yards, meters, etc.
• Spell out numbers less than 12. Use
commas to separate units of measure.
Hyphenate adjectival forms
– He is five feet, six inches tall.
– The five-foot-six man…
– We took a 150-mile trip.

156. Dollars
• Always spell out dollars and place the
word after the amount. Never use $. Use
words for amounts less than 12.
– five dollars; 500-thousand dollars
• Use commas to separate units
– five dollars, ten cents
– 135-thousand, 312 dollars

157. • For large amounts, round and use a more
than or almost construction.
– WRONG: five million, 187-thousand, 600
dollars
– RIGHT: more than five million dollars
• Avoid decimal constructions for amounts
in the millions or billions.
– WRONG: three-point-two billion dollars
– RIGHT: three billion, 200 million dollars

158. • Informalize monetary amounts when
possible.
– two and a-half dollars
– two-50
– NOT two dollars, 50 cents
• Explain large amounts in terms people
can understand, such as ratios or per-
capita amounts.

159. Election returns
• Use numbers sparingly, and use percentages
rather than raw totals.
– Smith received 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent
for Jones
• Always try to simplify.
– WRONG: Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford 40
million, 827-thousand, 292 to 39 million, 146-
thousand, 157 in 1976.
– RIGHT: Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford by nearly
one-point-seven million votes out of nearly 81 million
cast in the 1976 election.

160. Highway designations
• Spell out such words as highway, route
and interstate. Capitalize when they are
part of the highway’s name.
• Use words for highway numbers less than
12.
– U-S Highway 50; state Route Seven;
Interstate 495 (I-495 acceptable on second
reference)

161. • When a letter is appended, capitalize and
hyphenate it.
– Route One-A

162. Percentages
• Spell out percent and numbers less than
12.
– eleven percent
– seven and a-half percent
• Repeat percent with each figure unless
the sentence is too cumbersome.
– The mayor wants to spend eight percent
more on police while cutting the fire
department by three.
– BETTER: The mayor wants to spend eight
percent more on police while cutting the fire
department by three percent.

163. Ratios
• Use hyphens and the word to.
– It was a 75-to-one shot.
– The bill passed the Senate by a two-to-one
margin.
• Use ratio or margin where there might be
confusion between a ratio and an actual
figure.

164. Room numbers
• Capitalize room and spell out numbers
below 12. Capitalize numbers that are
spelled out.
– Room Eight
– Room 213

165. Scores
• Use figures only (an exception to the
general rule) and use to with hyphens.
– The Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks 3-
to-2.
– The final score was Boston 6, Chicago 3.
• When reporting only one team’s score,
however, spell out amounts less than
12.
– The Marlins scored seven runs in the
eighth inning to beat the Royals.

166. Temperatures
• Spell out numbers less than 12. Use the
word minus, not a hyphen, for
temperatures below zero, and spell out
degrees.
– The high today was 65 degrees.
– The overnight low was minus five degrees.

167. Punctuation

168. Comma/ages
• Use commas to separate a person’s age
from his or her name.
– Artie Shaw, 94, died Wednesday.

169. Comma/state names
• Use commas to separate the name of a
state from the name of a city. Use
commas before and after the state name
unless it ends the sentence.
– The bus traveled from Cairo, Ill., to Knoxville,
Tenn.

170. Comma/hometowns
• Use commas to set off a person’s
hometown when it is placed in apposition
to the name.
– Mary Richards, Minneapolis, and Maude
Findlay, Tuckahoe, N.Y., attended the
ceremony.

171. • The better practice is to replace the
commas with an of phrase.
– Mary Richards of Minneapolis and Maude
Findlay of Tuckahoe, N.Y., attended the
ceremony.

172. Comma/quotations
• Use a comma after the attribution to
introduce a one-sentence quotation.
– She said, “The city has overspent its
budget.”
• When the attribution follows the
quotation, replace the period at the end
of the quotation with a comma.
– “The city has overspent its budget,” she
said.

173. • Use commas before and after
attribution that is in the middle of a
quotation.
– “Before the start of the war,” the senator
said, “the United States should have
planned to fight insurgents.”
• Always place commas and periods
inside quotation marks.

174. • Use commas to set off attribution at the
end or in the middle of an indirect
quotation.
– The war plans were inadequate, he said.
– The time has come, the president said, to
engage in direct negotiations.
• Do not use a comma with indirect or
partial quotations that start with the
attribution.
– Tucker said the plane was low on fuel.

175. Comma/series
• Use commas to separate elements in a
series. Do not put a comma before the
conjunction in a simple series.
– The players’ jerseys are purple, yellow and
white.

176. Comma/appositives
• An appositive is a word or expression
placed beside another in order to explain
or elaborate on the other word or
expression.
• Appositives should have commas before
and after them, unless they come at the
end of a sentence.
– Bill Smith, the leadoff batter, struck out.
– The letter came from Jane Mitchell, the state
treasurer.

177. Colon/lists
• The most frequent use of the colon is at
the end of a sentence to introduce a list,
tabulation or text.
– There were three considerations: expense,
time and feasibility.

178. Colon/quotations
• Use a colon after the attribution to
introduce a quotation of more than one
sentence.
– The prosecutor said: “The gunman
showed no mercy. He shot both victims
as they begged for their lives.”

179. Possessives
• For common or proper nouns, singular
or plural, that do not end in s, add an
apostrophe and an s.
• For singular common nouns that end in
s, add an apostrophe and an s, unless
the next word begins with an s.
• Singular common or proper nouns that
end in ce, z or x, add an apostrophe
and an s.

180. • For singular proper nouns that end in s,
add only an apostrophe.
• For plural common or proper nouns
ending in s, add only an apostrophe.
• See Appendix C of “Reporting for the
Media” for more rules and examples.

181. Semicolon
• Use semicolons to separate elements in
a series where one or more of the
elements has internal punctuation.
– He leaves three daughters, Jane Smith of
Wichita, Kan., Mary Smith of Denver and
Susan Kingsbury of Boston; a son, John
Smith of Chicago; and a sister, Martha
Warren of Omaha, Neb.
• Note that a semicolon is used before
the final element in the series.

182. Punctuation for broadcast
copy

183. In general
• Punctuation should help a newscaster
understand and read a story.
• Most of the rules for punctuating print copy
apply to broadcast copy

184. Comma/ages and hometowns
• Do not use commas to set off ages and
hometowns from names. Instead, put ages
and hometowns in separate sentences.
– The governor has appointed James Burns to
lead the Economic Development Department.
He is a 48-year-old banker from Pleasanton.

185. Commas/quotations
• Avoid direct quotations in stories. Use
paraphrases or tape instead.
• Where a direct quotation is central to a
story, punctuate it as for print, but use a
phrase that would make clear to
listeners the words are those of the
source, not of the reporter.
– In the president’s words, “He can run, but
he can’t hide.”

186. Preferred spellings

187. • Adviser • Damage (for
• Afterward (not destruction); damages
afterwards) (for court awards)
• All right (never alright) • Employee
• Ax • Forward (not forwards)
• Baby-sit, baby-sitting, • Goodbye
baby sitter • Gray (not grey)
• Backward (not • Kidnap, kidnapped,
backwards) kidnapper, kidnapping

188. • Likable (not likeable)
• Percent (one word,
spelled out)
• Teen, teenager, teenage
(do not use teenaged)
• Vice president (no
hyphen)
• Whiskey, whiskeys

189. Preferred spellings for
broadcast copy

190. • Babysitter (one word)
• Teen, teen-ager, teen-age

191. Time

192. Hours and minutes
• Use figures except for noon and
midnight. Do not put a 12 before noon
or midnight. Use a.m. or p.m.
(lowercase with periods) after any times
other than noon or midnight.
– 11:45 a.m.; 1:30 p.m.

193. • If the time is on the hour, do not use a
colon and zeros after it.
– 10 a.m.; 4 p.m.
• Avoid redundancies like 9 a.m. this
morning.

194. Days
• Use day of the week (Monday, Tuesday).
• Use today, this morning, tonight, etc., for
day of publication.
• Never use yesterday and tomorrow except
in direct quotations and phrases that do
not refer to a specific day.
– Examples
• The City Council voted Tuesday….
• The council meets tonight at 8 p.m.

195. Days/dates
• Use Monday, Tuesday, etc., for days of the
week within seven days of the day of
publication.
• The council postponed the issue until
Tuesday.
• Use month and date for days more than
seven days before or after the day of
publication.
• The council postponed the issue until July 9.
• Avoid redundancies like last Tuesday or
next Tuesday.

196. Months
• Capitalize the names of months in all uses.
• When a month is used with a specific date,
use these abbreviations: Jan., Feb., Aug.,
Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Never abbreviate
March, April, May, June or July.
– Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month.
– Her birthday is June 9.

197. • When a phrase uses only month and year,
do not set off the year with commas.
– January 1978 was the coldest month on
record.
• When a phrase uses month, date and
year, use commas to set off the year.
– Feb. 14, 2010, is the target date.
• Do not use st, nd, rd or th after the Arabic
numeral in a date.

198. Time in broadcast copy

199. In general
• Exact time of day is rarely necessary to a
story. Use it only to give the audience a
better picture of the scene (such as
whether a disaster occurred when people
were sleeping or at work) or when it is
critical, such as when a scheduled event
will occur.

200. Hours and minutes
• Use figures except for noon and
midnight. Use a colon to separate hours
from minutes. Designate morning and
afternoon with a-m and p-m (hyphenated
with no periods).
– The council meets at 10 a-m.
– The kickoff is at 7:35 p-m.

201. Time zones
• Sometimes it is necessary to identify time
zones, as in stories that occur in one time
zone but might affect or interest people in
other zones.
• Capitalize the full names of time zones:
Central Standard Time; Eastern Daylight
Time.

202. • Capitalize only the region when using
the short form: Mountain time, Pacific
time.
• Capitalize and hyphenate abbreviations
for time zones: E-D-T; C-S-T.

203. Dates
• Never abbreviate the names of months.
• Spell out and capitalize ordinal numbers of dates
for the first through the eleventh. Use numerals
with st, nd, rd or th for other dates.
– February Third
– October 26th
• Use commas to separate year from month and
day.
– November 22nd, 1963, ….

204. Days
• Use today, this morning, tonight, yesterday
and tomorrow, as appropriate.
• In references to days within seven days of
the broadcast, use the day of the week
without last or next. The verb tense tells
listeners whether the event has happened
or will happen.
– The mayor spoke Tuesday.
– The mayor will speak Tuesday.

205. Titles

206. In general
• Formal titles preceding a name are
capitalized and, when appropriate,
abbreviated.
– Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Titles placed after a name are lowercase,
spelled out and set off with commas.
– Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of
California, ….

207. • Lowercase titles that stand alone.
– The general refused to surrender.
• Do not repeat the title the second time
you use a person’s name.
• Some titles are never abbreviated.
– sheriff
– mayor
– president
– superintendent

208. Boy/girl
• The terms boy and girl are applicable to
people under the age of 18.
• Use man and woman for people over 18.

209. Compositions
• Capitalize the principal words in the titles
of books, movies, operas, plays, poems,
songs, television programs, lectures,
speeches and works of art.
• Put quotation marks around the names of
all such works.
– Tom Clancy wrote “The Hunt for Red
October.”
• Do not underline or italicize titles.

210. Congressman/congresswoman
• Use congressman and congresswoman
only in reference to specific members of
the U.S. House of Representatives.
– Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
• Use representative if the gender is
unknown or when referring to more than
one House member.
• Abbreviate representative before a name.
– Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Republican
Reps. John Boehner and Roy Blunt

211. Courtesy titles
• In general, do not use courtesy titles – Mr.,
Mrs., Miss, Ms. – on first reference.
Instead, use first name, middle initial and
last name. A woman’s or man’s marital
status should not be mentioned unless
pertinent to the story.
– Robert B. Parker; Helen Hunt

212. • For married women, the preferred form
is to use her own first name and middle
initial and the last name she uses,
either her husband’s or her birth name.
Use Mrs. if she requests it or her own
first name cannot be determined.
– Michelle L. Obama
– NOT Mrs. Barack Obama

213. • On second reference, use only the last
name of a man or woman, unless
courtesy titles are needed to distinguish
two people with the same last name.
• On first reference to couples, use both
first names.
– Louise and Marvin Jones

214. Initials
• In general, use middle initials to identify
specific individuals. Middle initials are
helpful in such things as casualty lists and
stories identifying people accused of
crime.
– Howard K. Smith
• Use periods and no space when a person
uses only initials instead of a name.
– O.J. Simpson

215. • Do not use a single initial (O. Simpson)
unless that is the person’s preference or
the first name cannot be learned.

216. Magazines
• Capitalize magazine titles but do not place
them in quotes or italics.
• Lowercase magazine, unless it is part of
the publication’s formal title.
– Newsweek magazine

217. Newspapers
• Capitalize the in a newspaper’s name if
that is the way the publication prefers to
be known. (Check the newspaper’s flag
for whether the is part of the paper’s
name.)
– Johnson won the race for governor, The
New York Times declared.
– Johnson won the race for governor, the
Chicago Sun-Times declared.

218. • If the state in which the newspaper is
published is needed but is not part of
the official name, use parentheses.
– Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
• Do not underline, italicize or use
quotation marks for the names of
newspapers.

219. Reference works
• Capitalize, but do not use quotation
marks around the proper names of books
that are primarily catalogs of reference
material.
– The Statistical Abstract of the United States
• The rule also applies to almanacs,
dictionaries, handbooks and
encyclopedias.

220. Reverend
• When using the title Rev. before a name,
precede it with the word the.
– The Rev. Franklin Graham

221. Titles in Broadcast Copy

222. In general
• Capitalize only formal titles used before a
name.
• Minimize the use of long formal titles.
Where possible, use shorter versions.
– WRONG: Secretary of the Treasury Henry
Paulson….
– BETTER: Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson….

223. • When even a shortened title is too long,
place it in a separate sentence following
the name.
– Stephen Rademaker described the proposal.
He is the assistant secretary of state for arms
control.

224. Courtesy titles
• The basic rule is readability. Use the
clearest construction.
• Generally, do not use courtesy titles on
first references.
• Do not use courtesy titles in other
references, except as needed to
distinguish among people with the
same last name.

225. Initials
• Avoid using middle initials whenever
possible.
– WRONG: Treasury Secretary Henry M.
Paulson Junior said ….
– BETTER: Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson said ….

226. • Use initials when they are integral to the
person’s name or when the person’s name
is used in a casualty list or a story about a
crime.
– Police have arrested Stephen W. Johnson on
charges of selling cocaine.
• If a person is known by his or her initials,
use both first and middle, not just the first.
– O.J. Simpson, NOT O. Simpson.

227. Legislative titles
• Do not abbreviate legislative titles.
– Senator Harry Reid; Congressman Roy
Blunt; Representative Nancy Pelosi
• Use party affiliation only when it is
relevant to the story. Do not abbreviate
it.
– Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of
Maine….

228. • Do not use legislative titles on second
reference.
• Readily recognized organizational titles
may be used. Some examples are
Speaker of the House, House Majority
Leader, Senate Majority Leader, etc.
They should be capitalized when used
before a name.

229. • Other common legislative titles are city
councilman, city councilwoman,
assemblyman, assemblywoman, delegate,
alderman. Capitalize such words used
before a name.
– Councilwoman Sylvia Locke
– Alderman Tom Nguyen

230. Reverend
• Always use the before Reverend.
• Never abbreviate Reverend.
– … the Reverend Franklin Graham….
• Do not use the Reverend on second
reference.

231. Words

232. A
• Affect, effect – Generally, affect is a verb;
effect is a noun.
• Afterward, afterwards – Use afterward. The
same applies for backward, forward and
toward.
• All right – Never alright.
• Allude, elude – You allude to or mention a
book; you elude or escape a pursuer.

233. • Annual – Never use first with it; it can’t be
an annual event if it’s the first time.
• Averse, adverse – If you do not like
something, you are averse to it. Adverse is
an adjective meaning unfavorable.

234. B
• Block, bloc – A bloc is a coalition of people
or groups with the same purpose or goal.
Do not call it a block, which has some 40
dictionary definitions.

235. C
• Compose, comprise – Comprise means to
include or embrace. The parts compose
the whole, while the whole comprises the
parts. Never use comprise in a passive
construction.

236. D
• Demolish, destroy – They both mean to do
away with completely. Something cannot
be partially destroyed, and it is redundant
to say something was completely
destroyed.
• Different from – Things and people are
different from one another, not different
than.

237. • Drown – Do not say someone was
drowned unless someone held that
person’s head underwater. Just say the
victim drowned.
• Due to, owning to, because of – The last is
preferred.
– WRONG: The game was canceled due to rain.
– STILTED: Owing to rain, the game was
canceled.
– RIGHT: The game was canceled because of
rain.

238. E
• Either – It means one or the other, not
both.
– WRONG: The goal posts are at either end of
the field.
– RIGHT: The goal posts are at each end of the
field.

239. F
• Funeral service – A redundant expression.
A funeral is a service

240. H
• Head up – People do not head up
committees or other bodies. They head
them.

241. I
• Imply, infer – The speaker implies; the hearer
infers.
• In advance of, prior to – Use before. It sounds
more natural.
• Injuries – They are suffered, not sustained or
received.
• Irregardless. A double negative; use
regardless.

242. • Innocent/not guilty – Use innocent to avoid
inadvertently dropping the not from not
guilty.
• Its, it’s – Its is the possessive form. It’ s is
the contraction for it is.

243. L
• Lay, lie – Lay is an action verb; lie is a
state of being.
• Less, fewer – If you can separate items
in the quantities being compared, use
fewer. If not, use less.
• Like, as – Use like when comparing
nouns or pronouns. Use as when
comparing phrases or clauses that
contain verbs.

244. M
• Marshall, marshal – Generally, the first
is used only as a proper noun, Susan
Marshall. The second is the form for
the title (fire marshal) or the verb (to
marshal one’ s forces).
• Mass – It is celebrated, not said.
Capitalize when referring to the
ceremony, but lowercase adjectives
that precede it (high Mass).

245. • Medal, meddle – A medal is a small, flat
piece of metal given as an award. Meddle
means to involve oneself in someone
else’s affairs.
• Mean, average, median – Mean and
average both refer to the sum of all
components divided by the number of
components. The median is the number
that has as many components above it as
below it.

246. N
• Nouns – Resist the trend toward using
nouns as verbs. Words such as author,
host and headquarters are nouns. Do not
use them as verbs.
• Nouns (collective) – Nouns that denote a
unit take singular verbs and pronouns:
company, family, jury, team. When used in
the sense of two people, couple takes
plural verbs and pronouns.

247. O
• Over, more than – Over refers to spatial
relationships: The plane flew over the city.
More than is used with figures: More than
1,000 fans attended the game.

248. P
• Parallel construction – Thoughts in a
series should take the same grammatical
form, such as noun phrases, verb phrases
or prepositional phrases.
• Peddle, pedal – When selling something
you peddle it. You pedal a bicycle.
• Person, people – Use person when
speaking of an individual Use people in all
plural constructions.

249. • Principal, principle – The first, dominant or
leading thing is a principal. A guiding rule
or basic truth is a principle.

250. R
• Raised, reared – Only humans may be
reared. Any living thing may be raised.
• Realtor – The term real estate agent is
preferred. Use Realtor (capitalized) only if
the person is a member of the National
Association of Realtors.
• Redundancies – Avoid such redundant
expressions as Easter Sunday, close
down, Jewish rabbi and is currently.

251. • Refute – The word connotes success in
an argument and almost always implies an
editorial judgment.
• Reluctant, reticent – Someone who does
not want to act is reluctant; someone who
does not want to speak is reticent.

252. S
• Say, said – The most serviceable words
for journalists are forms of to say. Let
sources say things rather than declare,
admit or point out. Never let them grin,
smile or frown a quote.
• Slang – Avoid slang. Usually a slang term
is on the way out by the time it appears in
print.

253. T
• Temperatures – They get higher or lower;
they do not get warmer or colder.
• That, which – That clauses tend to restrict
or define another word or phrase. Which
clauses add subsidiary information.
– Sharpen the lawnmower that is in the garage.
– Sharpen the lawnmower, which is in the
garage.

254. U
• Under way, not underway. It’s better to
avoid under way completely. Say
started instead.
• Unique. Unique means one of a kind.
Something cannot be unique unless
there is nothing else like it in the world.

255. • Up. Do not use up as a verb.
– WRONG: The company upped the price of
gas.
– RIGHT: The company raised the price of gas.

256. W
• Who, whom. Use whom to refer to
someone who is the object of an action.
Use who to refer to someone who is the
actor.
– RIGHT: A 19-year-old woman, to whom the
room was rented, left the window open.
– RIGHT: A 19-year-old woman, who rented the
room, left the window open.

257. • Words to avoid. Do not use kids,
ladies (as a synonym for women),
gentlemen (as a synonym for men),
cop or entitled (when you mean titled)
in news stories.