1. Lecture 9 News editing and its significance
Top 20 TipsNews Editing
A centuryago,longbefore the arrival of The Associated PressStylebook,practicallyeveryAmerican
newspaperhaditsownstyle guide--alistof dosanddon'tscobbledtogether bythe paper'squirkyand
opinionatededitor.Surprisingly,perhaps,muchof thatediting advice still holdsup--asshowninthese
excerptsfromfive early-20th-centurystyle sheets.
1. If a man is"well known"itisnotnecessarytosay so.
2. If superlatives are usedonlywhentheyare warranted,theywillmeansomething;theyare seldom
warranted.
3. Two wordsmay be discardedgenerallyinthe phrase "whetherornot."Write it:"He doesn'tknow
whetherhe will go."
4. Whenthere isa choice betweentwotermsforan idea,one specificandthe othergeneral,itis
betterto choose the specific.
5. Prune the rank luxuriance of language.Avoid"thosefine things"which [ThomasB.] Macaulay says,
"boysof fifteenadmire."Youngreportersare liable tobe toofondof that ornate style thatpasses
underthe name of "highfalutin."The copyeditorsrepeatedly"massacre fine sentences"before the
offendersare cured.
6. The use of the word "about"shouldbe avoidedwhenpossible.If youwrite "There were two
thousandpeople inthe hall,"the roundnumbersare asufficientindicationthatthere wasnotan
actual countof those present.
7. Don't say "possiblymay"or"possiblymight."The verbconveysthe ideaof possibility.
8. Don't say "invitedguest."Itissupposedthata guestisinvited.
9. Don't write thathe hasa "brilliantfuture beforehim."Futuresdonotlie inthe past.
10. Be sparinginthe use of epithets andof adjectivesandadverbsgenerally.
11. Avoidthe fourfrequenterrorsinthe use of too manywords:
(a) Prolixity--the introductionof toomany details,unnecessarytoclearness,destructive toforce.
(b) Tautology--therepetitionof anidea.
(c) Redundancy--theuse of aword servingnogrammatical orrhetorical purpose inthe sentence.
(d) Verbosity--circumlocution,the use of alongexpressioninplace of anequivalentshorterone.

2. 12. Avoidredundancy of ideas,superfluouswordsandcrude,hackneyedexpressions."A regular
monthlymeeting,""some time past,""all daylong,""all dayyesterday,""whichhe hadinhis
possession,"andall like expressionsare examplesof the superfluous.
13. Don't confound"amateur"with"novice."Anamateurmaybe the equal of the professional in
experience andskill;anovice isa beginner.
14. Don't "try and"write correctly,but"try to" write correctly.
15. Don't spell forward,backward,homeward,afterward,downward,toward,earthward,
andheavenward withafinal "s."
16. Don't forgetthat "deathisthe wagesof sin,"and that "the wagesof sinare death."Verbs agree in
numberwiththeirsubjectsandnotwiththeirpredicates
17. Write ina style thatisnatural to you.If you strainaftereffect,youare certainto burst
arhetorical bloodvessel.
18. There can be no more importantmorselsof advice giventothe youngreporterthanthese:(a)
acquire newwordseveryweek;(b) know the distinctshade of meaning;(c) cultivate the habitof
usingsynonyms;(d) aimatfreshness,notateccentricity.
19. Afterthe writingiscomplete,trytoeliminate atleastone uselesswordfromeachsentence.
20. To gain grace in writingone musteitherbe bornwitha natural aptitude inthe use of words--and
such men:Stevenson, Poe, WalterPaterandothers,are geniuses--orone muststudythe writings
of these mastersof prose andattemptto discoverthe secretof theirsuccess.Itisnot necessary
that a good writershouldknowrulesof grammar,buthe must know enoughtoobserve them.A
writermaybe unable totell whya danglingparticiple isfaultyEnglishbytestingitwitharule,but
he may neverthelessavoidsuchaconstructionecausehiseartellshimitisnotthe beststyle.