Journalism

Textbook

Chapter 7

Editing

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1. Confusing affect with effect. Remember that affect is usually a verb (the action word of a sentence) and effect is almost always a noun (usually preceded by the word the).

Examples:

Your work affects your boss’s attitude towards you.

The PowerPoint presentation had the effect of making me fall asleep.

(Rarely, effect can be a verb but if you know enough to use this specialized word you surely don’t need me to explain it to you!  Same goes for affect as a noun.)

2. Misspelling bated breath. Don’t ever write baited breath, even if fishing is your favorite hobby.

The word should be spelled bated, which comes from abated, meaning held.

2. Misspelling bated breath. Don’t ever write baited breath, even if fishing is your favorite hobby.

The word should be spelled bated, which comes from abated, meaning held.

3. Using could of, would of, should of. These are all 100 percent wrong, born of our sloppy speaking styles—would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. What you want to write is could have, would have, should have. We all coulda, wouda, shouda become better at grammar.

4. Misusing literally. If your teacher says, “I literally felt like giving the whole class an F,” would you think he really meant that? No! He meant it hyperbolically. Stop him from ever using literally unless it’s the actual (literal) truth.

5. Confusing racked with wracked. If you are racked with nerves, you are feeling as if you were being stretched on the torture device, the rack. You rack your brains when you try to write difficult stories. Wrack, on the other hand, has to do with ruinous accidents. With luck, this won’t apply to your writing, but it might just apply to the stock market, which has been wracked by recession.

6. Making a 360-degree turn, when you changed direction. Think about it: If you turn around so that you’re facing in the opposite direction, you’ve actually made a 180-degree turn.

7. Confusing systematic with systemic. Systematic refers to things that are arranged or dealt with according to an organized method. For example, Mary was systematic about studying for the final exam. On the other hand, if you work for doctors or biologists, you might be able to use the word systemic, which refers to parts of a body or system. A systemic illness affects many parts of the body, just as a systemic problem in health care affects many parts of the health care system.

8. Treating singular nouns as plurals. If your friend says to you, “The movie 'Marley and Me' is about a couple that get a troublesome dog….” Tell him or her that although a couple involves two people, the word couple actually represents a single unit, so the correct sentence needed to be singular: "Marley and Me" is about a couple that gets…

9. Repeating yourself. Repeat after me: PIN stands for personal information number. Therefore, you cannot say PIN number without being redundant. Similarly, CD-ROM stands for “compact disc, read-only memory,” and DVD for Digital Video Disc—so don’t repeat the word disc in either case.

10. Using it’s when you mean its. The rule is so breathtakingly simple that everyone should learn it’s stands for it is. The possessive version, “The dog chewed on its bone,” somehow prompts people to throw in an errant apostrophe. Whenever you see it’s, always reread the sentence to ensure the correct meaning is it is. And when you see its, reread the sentence to ensure it doesn’t mean it is.

11. Affect vs. effect. The easiest way to remember the difference between the two is affect means “to influence.” So if you’re going to influence something, you will affect it. If it’s the result of something, it’s an effect.

12. The Oxford comma. In a series of three or more terms, you should use what’s referred to as the Oxford comma. This means you should have a comma before the word “and” in a list. For instance: The Unites States' flag is red, white, and blue. Many people debate this, but its best to err on the side of having the Oxford in there, for the sake of clarity.

13. Commas, in general. Slow down when you’re writing, and read your copy out loud. You don’t want to make this mistake: Let’s eat grandma vs. let’s eat, grandma. Poor grandma will be eaten if you forget the comma.

14. Their, they’re, and there. You’d think everyone learned this rule in fourth grade, but it’s a very common mistake. Use “there” when referring to a location, “their” to indicate possession, and “they’re” when you mean to say “they are.”

15. Care less. The dismissive “I could care less” you hear all the time is incorrect. If you could care less, that means there is more you could care less about the topic. Most people omit the “not” in that phrase. It should be, “I couldn’t care less.”

 

16. Irregardless. This word doesn’t exist. It should be regardless.

17. Nauseous. How many times have you said you felt nauseous? This is incorrect. You feel nauseated. Nauseous means something is sickening.

18. Your and you’re. Another mistake you see in people’s social media profiles and in the content they create is not correctly using “your” and “you’re.” If you’re meaning to say “you are,” the correct word is “you’re” (as at the beginning of this sentence). Otherwise the word is “your.”

19. Fewer vs. less. Another common mistake, “less” refers to quantity and “fewer” to a number.

For instance: Facebook has fewer than 5,000 employees.

I have less ice cream than Les.

20. Quotation marks. Among great debate, people ask all the time whether punctuation belongs inside or outside quotation marks. It belongs inside, except for colons and semicolons. Question mark placement varies according to the context.

22. Me vs. I. Consider this sentence:

“This year has brought a big personal development for my girlfriend and I.”

No, no, no! If you were going to say that without the mention of your girlfriend, you wouldn’t say, “This year has brought a big personal development for I.” You would say “me.”

“This year has brought a big personal development for my girlfriend and me.”

23. Empty adverbs (really and very). Let's be honest. When you add "really" to a verb, what are you adding? Is calling something "very" cold better than calling it frosty, frigid, or icy? The truth is, many common adverbs are empty: They add little or nothing to the meaning of a sentence and only clutter your copy. Cut them out.

24. Overly complex words. Using overly complex words in place of simple ones is a perfect way to alienate your readers. Better to be clear and get your message across than to be fancy and lose your audience. When reading over your content, ask yourself whether the meaning is obvious. If not, rewrite.

25. Common misspellings. Most writers understand the difference between "your" and "you're," but it's all too easy to accidentally type one when you mean the other, especially if your spell-check program doesn't pick up the error. Be on guard for common misspellings such as these:

• They're/Their/There • Lose/Loose • It's/Its • Effect/Affect • Weather/Whether • Then/Than

STORMY WHETHER

26. Comma Vomit

True or false: a comma must come before any use of the word “and”? FALSE. Commas should only come before and, but, for, or, nor, so, or yet when they introduce an independent clause. For example, “We laid out our music and snacks, and began to study.” Placing a comma after “snacks” is incorrect. The subject of the sentence has not changed, “we” still “began to study.”

An example of correct comma use: “The game was over, and the crowd began to leave.” The game and the crowd are different subjects and the clauses are independent. The crowd could still be leaving regardless of what is happening with the game.

A comma can also precede “and” when it is used in a list of three or more items. This is called an “oxford comma”.

While that is probably the most common overuse, others are prevalent. Just because you think you would pause at a certain point when speaking, it does not mean you need a comma.

27. i.e. is not e.g. is not i.e.

Some people seem to think that throwing an “i.e.” into a paragraph makes them look smarter. Unfortunately, most of those people are using i.e. to mean “for example.”

WRONG: “I have sold many products, i.e. washing machines.” This doesn’t make any sense.

i.e. is an abbreviation of the Latin words id est, literally translated as “that is.” In English, i.e. is used synonymously with “namely.” It specifies and limits.

Right: “I sold the couple an essential home appliance, i.e. a washing machine.

e.g. is also a Latin abbreviation but of the words exempli gratia, meaning “for example.” E.g. implies, “This is one of several possible options.”

27. i.e. is not e.g. is not i.e.

Some people seem to think that throwing an “i.e.” into a paragraph makes them look smarter. Unfortunately, most of those people are using i.e. to mean “for example.”

WRONG: “I have sold many products, i.e. washing machines.” This doesn’t make any sense.

i.e. is an abbreviation of the Latin words id est, literally translated as “that is.” In English, i.e. is used synonymously with “namely.” It specifies and limits.

Right: “I sold the couple an essential home appliance, i.e. a washing machine.

e.g. is also a Latin abbreviation but of the words exempli gratia, meaning “for example.” E.g. implies, “This is one of several possible options.”

Your Assignment:

Working by yourself or with a parter…

On a page of notebook paper, write one sentence for each rule wherein you break it most agregiously.

For example:

1. If you want to effect change in the world, be kind to your neighbor.

2. I awaited the judge’s decision with baited breath.

3. I should of told him that I would go with him to the prom.

Chinese Twins Born in Single Body With 2 Heads

Published May 09, 2011 Associated Press

a hospitalin southwestern china says conjoined twin girls with a single body and heads two have been born at its facility.

A staffer surnamed Wang at Suining City Central Hospital in in Sichuan province says the girls were born Thursday. Wang said Tuesday the parents, who are farmers, didnot want to have the babies at first, fearing they could not afford to keep them alive she said they transferred the twins to a hospital in the nearby metropolis of Chongqing to be examined by experts.

The local huaxi metropolis daily reported thetwins weighed 9 pounds (4 kilograms) and measured 20 inches (51 centimeters) they have two spines and two esophaguses and share other organs. Doctors were quoted as saying it wouldn’t be nearly impossible to separate them.

Chinese Twins Born in Single Body With 2 Heads

Published May 09, 2011 | Associated Press

A hospital in southwestern China says conjoined twin girls with a single body and two heads have been born at its facility.

A staffer surnamed Wang at Suining City Central Hospital in Sichuan province says the girls were born Thursday.Wang said Tuesday the parents, who are farmers, did not want to have the babies at first, fearing they could not afford to keep them alive. She said they transferred the twins to a hospital in the nearby metropolis of Chongqing to be examined by experts.

The local Huaxi Metropolis Daily reported the twins weighed 9 pounds (4 kilograms) and measured 20 inches (51 centimeters). They have two spines and two esophaguses and share other organs. Doctors were quoted as saying it would be nearly impossible to separate them.

Ex-Nepal Foreign Minister, 82, Dies in Everest Bid

KATMANDU, Nepal –  An eighty two year old former nepalese foreign minister has died on the slopes of MountEverest while to attempting become the person oldest to climb the World's Highest Mountain, an official said Tuesday.

shailendra kumar upadhyay was returning from the first camp set on the slopes of Everest back down to the base camp when he collapsed Monday evening, Mountaineering Department official Tilak Pandey told The Associated Press by telephone he was going back to the base camp to get medical attention because he was not feeling well.

Upadhyay's climbing companions gave him some water and oxygen after he collapsed on the icy trails, but he died, likely from high-altitude sickness, a common cause of death among mountain climbers, Pandey said.

His body was expected to be airlifted to the capital, katmandu, later tuesday

Upadhyay served as Nepal's foreign minister from 1986-90 and was the country's representative to the united Nations from 1972-78.

he was trying to break the record set by a Nepalese climber who scaled the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak at the age of 76

Several dozen climbers are currently at Everest's base camp to hoping scale the peak this month May is considered the best time to climb Everest because the weather usually becomes favorable for a few days.

Ex-Nepal Foreign Minister, 82, Dies in Everest Bid

KATMANDU, Nepal –  An 82-year-old former Nepalese foreign minister has died on the slopes of Mount Everest while attempting to become the oldest person to climb the world's highest mountain, an official said Tuesday.

Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay was returning from the first camp set on the slopes of Everest back down to the base camp when he collapsed Monday evening, Mountaineering Department official Tilak Pandey told The Associated Press by telephone. He was going back to the base camp to get medical attention because he was not feeling well.

Upadhyay's climbing companions gave him some water and oxygen after he collapsed on the icy trails, but he died, likely from high-altitude sickness, a common cause of death among mountain climbers, Pandey said.

His body was expected to be airlifted to the capital, Katmandu, later Tuesday.

Upadhyay served as Nepal's foreign minister from 1986-90 and was the country's representative to the United Nations from 1972-78.

He was trying to break the record set by a Nepalese climber who scaled the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak at the age of 76.

Several dozen climbers are currently at Everest's base camp hoping to scale the peak this month. May is considered the best time to climb Everest because the weather usually becomes favorable for a few days.