FUNDAMENTALS

Ted Stanton’s Red-Flags for Copy Editors

Preparing for a workshop for Cougar reporters and editors, I put together a list of what I call red-flag words, grammar, punctuation problems. Then I thought it might be useful to students in many of our classes, so I pass it along for whatever it's worth.

Ted Stanton's red-flag grammar-punctuation- word usage list

My hope is that, for at least a few days, you reporters and editors will start your writing and/or editing tasks every day by just reading through this list. A few reads will, I believe, embed them in your minds, so that red flags go up when one of them turns up in a piece you're writing or editing. The red flags mean STOP, then check to see if it's something on the list. If so, fix it. If not, good.

--Noun-pronoun agreement, or far more frequently disagreement. That's the one I label SNTSP -- which stands for?? Singular noun takes singular pronoun. It is perhaps the most frequent mistake I see in the Cougar. One way around an awkward pronoun usage is to put the noun into the plural, and then you can use they or their instead of he, she, his, her.

--However, which often creates a run-on sentence. If it's going to do that, put either a period or a semi-colon before it (but note that semi-colons aren't used very often in good newspaper copy). He said, however, he was happy with the result. That's correct. The speech ended quickly, however, many people rose to ask questions. That's a run-on sentence. Use a semi-colon or period after quickly.

--People who, things that. , The people who will be called for jury duty (not that will be called).

--Hopefully, always a peril. Hopefully and I hope are not interchangeable. Read all about it in When Words Collide. Be particularly wary when starting a sentence with Hopefully.

--Starting sentences, grafs or stories with there is and there are. That weakens the sentence, graf, story. The next time you see one, check how much stronger it would have been to edit that out and start with the next word, then do a little editing farther on. Example: There are many students who are eligible for financial aid x x x Many students are eligible x x

--Due to and because of, which, students are surprised to discover, are not interchangeable. The stock market fell because the monthly labor report was weak. The stock market drop was due to a weak labor report

--Time-element placement. Be careful where you put the time element. The recent Cougar cutline was a great example: He told the audience that, without testing soon, the Internet might be destroyed Thursday. When editing your copy or someone else's, concentrate.

--Hyphenating compounds. You don't hyphenate them all, but you do most, such as time-element placement. I think I had an example a few issues ago in which the lack of the hyphen made the sentence not rede. Again, hyphenating accurately just requires concentration.

--Upcoming. A built-in redundancy. Coming works fine, and is two letters shorter.

--Track meet stories that say (not which say) each runner does something "in a time of." That phrase is not needed, not even on first usage. He ran the 100 in 9.45, or 9.45 seconds. And look for a lot of other places in sports stories -- in all stories -- where the writing can be tightened up. That's a major part of a copy editor's job, getting crisp, clear, concise copy.

--Percentage increase or decrease vs. percentage-point increase or decrease. Interest rates rose last month to 6 percent from 4 percent. That's not a 2 percent increase, it's a 50 percent increase. Big difference. But it is a two-point increase.

--To…from, rather than from…to. The subway fare was raised from a quarter to a half dollar. That could be a range, or the two prices. Saying the fare rose to a half dollar from a quarter eliminates any ambiguity.

--That and which, and when to use each. The book that I like in this pile is When Words Collide. The book I like in this pile, which was not on sale yesterday, is When Words Collide. The word that, used correctly, can often be dropped, as in the example above. Which, if used properly, cannot be dropped. Which almost always has a comma preceding it and a second comma at the end of the phrase.

--Another usage tip on commas: Writers often use a phrase that should have one comma at the beginning and one at the end, but forget the first one If you see a single comma in the middle of a sentence, check to see whether that's the end of a phrase that should have been preceded by a comma, too.

Does the Cougar have a copy of When Words Collide? It is the modern book that compares to the old Strunk and White book, which you may have heard about. I think it's a really good book on grammar and word usage.

--And some red-flag words that almost always mean a weak lede: discussed at a meeting, considered, held a meeting, a speech entitled, the SGA met regarding x x said last week...

At our workshop, we discussed some alternatives when the SGA, for example, discusses an issue but doesn't take action and the reporter writes a lede saying: the SGA discussed tuition increases. I suggested that you can write a more interesting lede by looking through the story to find the points that were made and then build the lede around them. Sometimes reporters write a speech story that says the speaker discussed this and that, or outlined her views on this or that. Neither of those points are the news. The news is what the speaker said about this or that, or the most interesting of the speaker's views on this or that. Then work in where and to whom the speech was made, or at the SGA meeting how others responded to the proposals being discussed.

Keep looking for the most interesting way to get into the story, not the easiest way.

--Other red-flag words turn up particularly in stories involving public officials -- from SGA officers up to and including the U.S. president.. These are vague words or generalities, categories all officials at just about every level -- government, academe, the corporate world -- delight in using to keep reporters off the trail. They do this, and are delighted when reporters don't say: What do you mean by that? Can you give us a specific on that, Mr. Official. What specifically does that involve?

So, keep asking questions, pinning down the people you're interviewing for specifics. You may not use everything, but you can write a better story when you know more of the details of what is being discussed.

Thanks to Dr. Kenton Bird, School of Communication Director at the University of Idaho, I can now pass along a terrific link on word-usage errors: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/ It was put together by Dr. Paul Brians of Washington State University and can be of great help in ascertaining proper word usage. It is a red-flag list of hundreds, if not thousands, of common usage errors. Clicking on that/which, for example, produced this example, which I much prefer to the one in the list I sent out earlier this evening:

--If you are defining something by distinguishing it from a larger class of which it is a member, use “that”: “I chose the lettuce that had the fewest wilted leaves.” When the general class is not being limited or defined in some way, then “which” is appropriate: “He made an iceberg Caesar salad, which didn’t taste quite right.” Note that “which” is normally preceded by a comma, but “that” is not.

I recommend taking a look at the site, in which his list is preceded by a good discussion of the value of proper English usage.

BEYOND THE BASICS