One of the keys to clarity in writing is

The strongest words in the English language are

News writers who use big words when simple ones would do and who use more words than are necessary so that they can make what they write

appear more important are writing

T or F? Most people find that good, simple, clear writing is fairly easy and just takes a little practice

T or F? Jargon is a specialized and technical language that should be avoided in writing for the mass media.

One of the reasons that writing is such hard work is that it

 T or F? One of the ways to achieve simplicity in writing is to use compound and complex sentences.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” “I have a dream.”

“To be or not to be; that is the question.” We remember all of these famous sayings because of their...

Writers should never edit their own copy – it’s too painful.

T or F? Clichés were once out of fashion with most writers, but now they are generally accepted as promoting clear, fresh writing.

What are the prerequisites to good writing?

know the tools of the trade

know your subject

rewrite what you have written

T or F? The active voice directs the action to an object

Which is the corret sentence? Everyone ate their cake. Everyone ate there cake.

Everyone ate his or her cake.

A redundancy uses more words than necessary (these are all correct examples: Easter Sunday, 8 p.m. tonight, and incumbent Congressman.

T or F? Its is the possessive of it.  It’s is a contraction for it is.

The major use of punctuation in writing is to...

Which is correct according to AP style? 8 o’clock, eight AM, 8 a.m., 8:00 am

Which is correct according to AP style? six adults, fourteen chickens, 2 children

 T or F? It is important to use a consistent style like Associated Press because it establishes the rules of writing for the journalist.

T or F? AP style concerning numbers: There are exceptions, however the general rule is: spell out number zero through nine; use figures for numbers greater than nine.

T or F?A hyphen separates and a dash brings together.

T or F? It’s OK to use okay.

T or F? All references to the Olympics, the international summer and winter athletic contests held every two years, are capitalized.

T or F? The AP Stylebook advises against too much abbreviation. Generally, you should not use abbreviations that a reader will not quickly recognize.

T or F? A reporter should avoid inserting his or her opinion in an article. The reporter should also avoid using first- and second-person pronouns in the copy.

 Stylebooks promote consistency in writing by establishing two things

T or F? Sometimes a word will have more than one commonly used spelling; in those cases, either spelling is correct when we are writing for the mass                            

The most influential stylebook in the field of the mass media is

One of the main things we get from using a stylebook is

The chief goal of a journalist is

Information which may not need attribution in a news story includes

If a person takes a trip across the country, it’s probably not news. If the president of the United States takes a trip across the country, chances are you will hear about it on news broadcasts and read about it in the newspaper. What news value is at work here?

If a traffic accident kills two people but it happens 1,000 miles away from where you are, you probably won’t read about it in the local newspaper. If it happens within your city limits, however, it will be in the newspaper. What news value is at work here?

T or F? An event that affects the lives of many people, such as a tax increase or a violent storm, is said to have impact (emotional impact, financial, etc.)

 In most news stories, most of the information is likely to come from what type of source?

Information from personal sources in a news story usually comes in the form of a direct or indirect quote.

T or F? Attribution in a news story means telling the reader where the information in that story comes from.

T or F? One of the most important things a reporter must do is spell people’s names correctly.

T or F? Direct quotations may or may not be the exact words that a person used.

The best news stories should come from

T or F?In a blind lead, the name is given in the lead, but full identification is held off until the second paragraph or even later.

The most common structure for a print news story is the inverted pyramid. That means:

T or F? “Said” is the preferred verb for attribution.

 What is the correct punctuation for a direct quote?

a. "The Congress should pass this legislation" the president said.

b. "The Congress should pass this legislation", the president said.

c. "The Congress should pass this legislation," the president said.

d. "The Congress should pass this legislation." The president said.

T or F? Journalists usually don’t have to worry about getting the exact words of a person to put into direct quotations; if the words are approximately what the person said, that’s OK.

Using quotes in a story does 3 things:

gives the story credibility

enlivens the story

breaks the story visually for the reader

One of the reasons that attribution is important in a news story is

T or F? You should use words other than "said" for attribution as much as possible to add variety for your reader.

T or F? Repeating information contained in a direct quote that you have already included elsewhere in the story is a good way of emphasizing that information for the reader.

T or F? AP Style uses courtesy titles. 

What 8 states are NEVER abbreviated?

Age always _______  the name and is written __________

NUMBERS: 

        What do you spell out?

When do you use Arabic numerals?

What do you use for ages & percentages?

When do you use Roman numerals?

• spell out numbers one through nine or that start a sentence
• use Arabic numerals for 10 and up
• use Arabic numberls for ages & percentages even when less than 10

• use Roman numerals for wars, monarchs and Popes: (World War II, King George VI, Pope John XXIII)

TIMING:

When do you use figures?

When do you use a colon?

is "o'clock" acceptable?

• Always use figures except when using noon and midnight
• Use a colon to separate hours from minutes (2:30 a.m.)
• "o'clock" is acceptable but a.m. and p.m. are preferred

For TITLES (of books, computer games, movies, operas, plays, poems, songs, tv, lectures, speeches, works of art):

Do you use quotation marks?

What do you  capitalize?

When do you translate?

• Yes, put quotation marks around the title.
• Capitalize the first and last words of the title and the principle words including verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions with more than 3 letters.
• Translate a foreign title into English unless it's known by it's foreign name.

For newspapers and magazines:

Do you use quotation marks? 

When do you capitalize?

When do you use lowercase?

How do you write when location is used?

No, do not use quotation marks.

Capitalize the name if that's the way the publication refers to it

Lowercase the befor enames if listing several publications (except, Time Newsweek, the Washington Post, the New York Times.)

If location is needed but not part of offical name use parentheses: The Huntsville (Ala.) Times, The Toledo (Ohio) Blade.

Which is preferred? "American Indian" or "Native American?"