© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. News Media Writing: Grammar and Punctuation Chapter 5

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Punctuation and Grammar Poor punctuation and grammar cause misunderstandings in your writing.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Colon Do not capitalize the first word that follows a colon (except as appropriate in titles).

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Semicolon Use a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless). ; however, –The first test results were unsatisfactory; however, a simple modification of the questionnaire solved the problem.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Comma A conjunctive adverb (therefore, thus, however, nevertheless) at the beginning of a sentence should be set off with a comma. –Thus, –Thus, the results showed ample significance. Elsewhere in a sentence, commas are usually used to set off conjunctive adverbs., therefore, –We believe, therefore, that this test is inadequate.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Comma A coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for) does not have a comma before the conjunction. –The flag is red, white and blue. –NOTE: There is not a comma before the word “and.” This is different from “traditional” composition writing.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Comma Use a comma to set off an appositive – a word or phrase that follows another word, usually a noun – to explain or identify it. –Simple sentence: George Washington was the first president of the United States of America. –Simple sentence: George Washington was a planter from Virginia., a Virginia planter, –Appositive: George Washington, a Virginia planter, was the first president of the United States of America.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Comma Be sure you place a comma AFTER the appositive!

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Quotation Marks Go around titles of TV shows, books, films. Commas, question marks and periods go INSIDE quotation marks in a quote. –He said, “The test was hard.” –“I thought so too,” she replied.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Quotation Marks Question marks go OUTSIDE quotation marks when they are NOT part of the speaker's words. –Example (NOT in quotation marks): Did I hear Dr. Leahy ask if the patient needs treatment in a “decompression chamber"?

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Apostrophes Used to indicate numerals that are left out. –‘90s (for 1990s) Do not use an apostrophe for decades. –1990s – NOT 1990’s

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Hyphens Used in phrasal adjectives. –7-year-old boy, an off-the-cuff remark, a little-known man. Hyphen is NOT used with adverbs ending in -ly. –Correct: a gravely ill student –Incorrect: a gravely-ill student In combinations of a number or descriptor plus a noun. –a 3-inch bug, a two-man team

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Fragments Fragment: Finding a dependable and inexpensive car to use. Complete: Finding a dependable and inexpensive car to use is becoming more and more difficult.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Run-Ons Run-on: The turnpike is a better road it has less traffic. Correct: The turnpike is a better road. It has less traffic. (Break the sentence into two sentences.) Correct: The turnpike is a better road; it has less traffic. (Insert a semicolon.) Correct: The turnpike is a better road, and it has less traffic. (Insert a comma and conjunction.)

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Agreement “Agreement refers to singular and plural references. In subject/verb agreement, single subjects take single verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs. In noun/pronoun agreement, a singular noun takes a singular pronoun, and a plural noun takes a plural pronoun.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Parallelism Mixing elements in a phrase or series. –Wrong: He enjoys books, movies, and driving around in his dune buggy. –Correct: He enjoys reading books, going to movies, and driving his dune buggy.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Dead Wood Words that do not add to a sentence; they just take up space. –Dead wood: It is really necessary to return the library book very soon. –It is necessary to return the library book soon.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Gender-Neutral Language Avoid using “man” for “people.” Avoid job titles that refer to gender. –Police officer, not policeman –Flight attendant, not stewardess Use plural pronouns. –Original: A reporter should edit his article. –Awkward: A reporter should edit his/her article. –Better: Reporters should edit their articles.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Associated Press: Numbers spell out nine and belowIn general, spell out for numbers nine and below. 10 and aboveUse numbers for 10 and above. MeasurementsMeasurements (inches, feet, liters, percent, etc..) are numbers. (51 percent, 19 feet) AgeAge is a number, unless it is the first word in a sentence. (A 2-year-old dog)

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Associated Press: Numbers a year.ALWAYS spell out a number if it begins a sentence. The ONLY exception is a year. –Fifty-two people attended the party. –1996 was a great year. Million and billion may be used with round numbers (3 million).

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Associated Press: Abbreviations Spell out names of organizations (colleges, groups, clubs) on first reference. –Abbreviate on second reference.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Associated Press: Abbreviations Abbreviate street addresses: –Street: 1234 Goober St. –Avenue: 3405 Loblolly Ave. –Boulevard: 80 Crabby Blvd. –But road, alley, circle and drive are never abbreviated. –However, if there is not a house number with the address, the word is not abbreviated. He lives on Goober Street. (not Goober St.) He lives at 1235 Goober St.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Names and Titles Identify people by first and last name (sometimes by middle initial). Use full identification on first reference, but in second reference, use last name only. Avoid courtesy titles. (Mr., Mrs., Dr.), unless not using them would cause confusion (example: husband and wife).

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Names and Titles While proper titles are capitalized and abbreviated when placed before a person’s name (except for the word “president”), titles that follow a person’s name are generally spelled out and NOT capitalized. –Voinovich, governor of Ohio –Pitts, a state representative

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Useful Writing Devices Be specific. Skip generalizations, and be concrete. Use active verbs. –“The owl hooted,” vs. “An owl’s hoot was heard.”

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Common Writing Problems Eliminate unnecessary words. Eliminate cliches. Don’t overuse adjectives and adverbs. Don’t use too many big words. Don’t misuse words. (lie/lay, sit/set) Don’t be a careless speller. Avoid jargon. Use gender-neutral language.

© 2012 Delmar Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Common Writing Problems Don’t mind-read. Avoid partial quotes. Avoid redundancies. (“assemble together,” “close proximity”) Avoid common grammatical mistakes. Avoid exclamation points. Use common comma sense.