Know and Understand Grammar, Usage and Style

Most of us don’t want to sweat the small stuff: details such as spelling, punctuation grammar and syntax. We think, hey, our writing is what’s important; editors will fix our “typos.”

Unfortunately, that’s not true. We are judged by our copy – and our copy needs to be clean. If it’s not, someone has to fix it. Editors are busy and don’t have time to make the same technical corrections over and over. They need to focus on reporting structure and storytelling.

If you want to be a professional, and treated as one, start boning up on the technical aspects of writing. There are many grammar sites online, but one of our favorites is www.newsroom101.com, which offers a ton of interactive exercises on both basic grammar/punctuation and AP Style. Start at the beginning, and see how far you can get. Do a few minutes of newsroom101.com every day, or every day that you can.

Turning in smooth, clean, flawless copy can make the difference between being taken seriously and being dismissed as a wannabe amateur. Even if you’re not up to speed right now — many students aren’t — these rules are easy to learn with practice.

Here is a review of a few of the most frequent grammar, punctuation and capitalization issues that seem to plague even the best students:

Comma-tose: Most of us use about the right number of commas. But we don’t always have them in the right place. We sometimes use commas where and when we shouldn’t, and don’t use them when and where we should. Here are a couple of tips:

1. Look at every comma and see whether it’s needed. Is it setting off a phrase? If it’s setting off a phrase inside the sentence, instead of at the beginning or end, is another comma needed at the other end of the phrase?

2.  Much of journalism follows AP Style, which does not use the serial comma.

Correct: He saluted the red, white and blue.

Incorrect: He saluted the red, white, and blue.

Some magazines and other publications do use the serial comma. Ask your editor about the publication’s style before submitting your story. 

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A Capital Job: A job title is capitalized only when it precedes the name of the person and is not set off parenthetically.

Correct (precedes a name and is not parenthetical): The keynote speech was given by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Correct (precedes a name but is set off parenthetically): The mayor, Michael Bloomberg, gave the keynote.

Incorrect (does not precede a name): The Mayor gave the keynote.

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Pro-Pronouns: Make sure pronouns match the nouns to which they refer. Use singular pronouns for singular nouns and plural pronouns for plural nouns.

Incorrect (singular noun, plural pronoun): The company gave their workers the day off.

Correct: The company gave its workers the day off.

Incorrect: Everyone waved their glow-sticks in the air.

Correct: Everyone waved his or her glow-stick in the air.

Correct: The audience members waved their glow-sticks in the air.

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Hyphen-nation: Hyphens follow strict rules (a two-word modifier uses a hyphen, for example) and misuse can change the meaning of a sentence dramatically. Rather than give you examples, here’s a drill. Please fix the hyphenation in this seven-example exercise:

• Our whole-family went out for an early bird dinner.
• We need to make a last minute decision on whether to rent the three bedroom apartment or the one that has only two-bedrooms.
• Some people disdain anything they believe is old fashioned, but some of us are devoted to the tenets of old fashioned reporting – you know, what they used to call shoe leather reporting.
• The second year student has dirty blonde hair.
• The incoming class will have 90 odd students.
• Our seven story building actually produces many stories.
• He’s hoping that this Fast Track education will lead to a fast track career.

In addition to spending as much time as possible on Newsroom 101.com, we suggest that you buy an AP Stylebook and start to get familiar with its contents — it will serve as your style bible over your journalism career.  Once you receive your library bar code when you arrive on campus, you will also have access to the AP Stylebook online through the J-School Research Center.