Parts of Speech

Editing I

Grammar

• Grammar refers to the relation of words.• The rules of grammar reflect patterns of

speech and writing of the educated elite.• What makes grammar fun is knowing the

rules and when to break them.• Breaking the rules through ignorance and

carelessness produces chaos and a loss of respect for what has been written.

The Sentence

• A complete sentence needs only a subject and a predicate.

• The subject of the sentence is what is spoken about. The predicate is what is said about the subject.

• “The women in feathered hats and flowered dresses were invited to tea with Queen Elizabeth II.”

The Sentence

• What is the subject in the previous sentence?

• What is the predicate?• What is the shortest complete sentence

possible?

The Sentence

• It is possible to classify sentences into one of four categories:

• Declarative -- statement ending with a period.

• Interrogative -- requests information.• Imperative -- expresses a command and

ends with a period.• Exclamations -- express surprise.

The Sentence

• Sentences are made up of clauses, phrases and words.

• A clause contains a subject and a predicate.• Clauses are either dependent or

independent.• An independent clause can stand alone as a

sentence.• A dependent clause cannot.

The Sentence

• A dependent clause refers to a word in an independent clause.

• Example: … who lived in a shoe … The verb is lived and the subject is the pronoun, who.

• A phrase is a cluster of words doing a single job. They lack a subject, a predicate or both.

• … to New York is a phrase.

The Sentence

• Dependent clauses, phrases and words can be classified as essential or non-essential.

• An essential clause is required to clarify the meaning of the parent noun or pronoun.

• It is introduced with a relative pronoun (that, who, or whom) and is not set off with commas.

Essential Examples

• Essential clause: “Don’t use commas that aren’t necessary.” If the clause in italics were deleted, the sentence would offer bad advice.

• Essential phrase: They saw the award-winning movie “The Pianist.” The phrase is needed because there is more than one award-winning movie.

Essential Examples

• Essential word: “Her grandmother Ellen is a teacher.” If both grandmothers are living, the writer must distinguish between the one who is a teacher and the one who is not.

• If one grandmother has died, then commas on both sides of Ellen would be needed.

Nonessential Examples

• Nonessential clauses, phrases and words are set off with commas and provide additional information. Nonessential clauses are introduced by relative pronouns (which, who or whom).

• Nonessential clause: “Don’t use vulgar words, which aren’t necessary.”

Nonessential Examples

• Nonessential phrase: “They saw the 1998 winner of the Academy Award for best movie, ‘Titanic.’” Only one movie won the award for best picture that year.

• Nonessential word: “His wife, Ellen, is a teacher.” If he has more than one wife at a time, then we have another story.

• For more see the essential, nonessential entry in the AP Stylebook.

The Eight Parts of Speech

• Noun• Pronoun• Verb• Adjective

• Adverb• Preposition• Conjunction• Interjection

The Noun

• The noun identifies people, places or things.• The simple subject of a sentence must be a

noun or a pronoun.• Nouns can be proper (names), which are

capitalized, and common, which are not.• Proper: Oklahoma, U.S. Army, Ohio State

University, General Motors

The Noun

• Beware of long noun phrases.• Short combinations, like English course or

love affair, are acceptable.• Long combinations can be confusing.• Wanted -- 100-year-old bridge repairers• U.S. Air Force aircraft fuel systems

equipment mechanics course

The Noun

• Another challenge is in the way nouns form their possessive or plural forms. The AP Stylebook attempts to deal with most of these. See possessives, plurals and titles for help and the entries for specific nouns.

• Also watch for collective nouns.• Plus, remember that a verb used as a noun

is called a gerund. Ex.: Jogging is fun.

The Pronoun

• It is a kind of noun that stands for another noun. The noun for which the pronoun stands is called its antecedent.

• A pronoun refers to the first preceding noun with which it agrees in number, person and gender.

The Pronoun

• Number means singular or plural.• Person means first (I, we), second (you), or

third (he, she, it, they).• Gender means male or female.• Every pronoun should be checked for

agreement with the noun to which it refers.

The Pronoun

• Example: “The English teacher spoke with deliberation, as if she were testing the taste of the words.”

• She matches the antecedent in number (singular), person (both are third person) and gender (both are feminine because this sentence was referring to a specific person, who happened to be a woman).

The Pronoun

• Who is sick in sentence No. 1 on the examples before you?

• What about in No. 2?

Personal Pronouns

• Personal pronouns have three cases, subjective, objective and possessive.

• The subjective case is used when the pronoun is the subject of the clause.

• Subjective pronouns include I, she and they.

Personal Pronouns

• Objective case is used when the pronoun is the object of a verb or preposition.

• Only six words in the English language show the objective case. They are: me, him, her, them, us and whom.

Personal Pronouns

• The possessive case includes my and our.• Use a possessive pronoun before a gerund.• Wrong: Do you object to me borrowing

your rake?• Right: Do you object to my borrowing your

rake?

Personal Pronouns

• Case can affect the meaning of a story. Consider the difference in meaning below.

• No one was angrier at Daryl than me.• No one was angrier at Daryl than I.• Both sentences are correct, but they have

different meanings.

Personal Pronouns

• The first sentence means that people were angry with both of us, but they were angrier with me. The pronoun me is the object of the preposition at (understood).

• The second sentence means that no one was angrier with Daryl than I was. The pronoun I is the subject of the verb was.

Relative Pronouns

• These introduce dependent clauses. They include which, that and who, whom.

• The best way to learn about their application is to read the AP Stylebook entries.

Demonstrative Pronouns

• They point out someone or something. Examples include this, that and these, those.

• The biggest trick with demonstrative pronouns is figuring out what antecedent they are pointing to, because it is often unclear.

• Some writing coaches would like to ban demonstrative pronouns.

Demonstrative Pronouns

• Here’s why. Consider the following quote from an NFL quarterback after his team lost the first five games of the season. “Until you lose maybe eight games, you’re not out of the playoffs. And we haven’t put that out of the realm of possibility.”

• To what does that refer?

Verb

• Verbs express action or a state of being. The predicate always contains a verb.

• Verbs are the essence of good writing.

Verb• Verbs have tense and mood. The six basic

tenses in English are: • Simple present – I work.• Simple past – I worked.• Simple future – I will work.• Present perfect – I have worked.• Past perfect – I had worked.• Future perfect – I will have worked.

Verb• Except for simple present and simple past,

verb tenses employ helper verbs (have, had, will, etc.) to make compound verbs.

• Good writers avoid splitting compound verbs.

• “She was ordered to immediately leave.” This is a split infinitive.

• “She was ordered to leave immediately.” Better.

Staying Tense• Journalism and expository writing is

normally conducted in the third person.• Avoid using words such as I, we, us and

you.• Editors must watch for writers who cannot

stick to one person or one tense.• Jumping from first to third person, for

example, is called shifting the reader’s point of view.

Regular vs. Irregular• Regular verbs, like to work, form their past

tense and past participle by adding –ed or –d to the base form.

• There are, however, about 250 irregular verbs in the English language.

• An odd one, which is mentioned in the stylebook, is forecast. Present tense – forecast. Past tense – forecast. Past participle – forecast.

Tricky Stuff

• Here are some verbs to watch out for in copy.• To get is famously mangled.• Writers often try to make the present perfect tense

using the past tense of the verb to get, which is got.

• Bad Example: She has got a cold. • The writer should have used the past participle,

which is gotten.

Tricky Stuff

• The problem gets worse.• “You have got to be careful.”• Try to fix it. Gotten only makes it worse.

Tricky Stuff

• Why? Because got only serves to recreate a redundancy, like never ever.

• Fix it by rewriting. “You have got to be careful” becomes “You have to be careful.”

• Or, better yet, it becomes “You must be careful.”

Verb Abuse

• Advertising copy writers and marketers often abuse verbs.

• “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” (Movie title)• “The martini is still drank the same way as

it was 60 years ago.” (Gin advertisement)• Others?

Verb Moods

• Verbs have three moods.• Indicative for statements and questions of

fact (She went to work).• Imperative to issue commands (Go to

work).• Subjunctive for conditions contrary to facts

(If I were King, I wouldn’t have to work).

More Verbs

• Verbs are either transitive or intransitive.• Transitive verbs take an object.• In the subject-verb-object style that

comprises most journalism the verb is a transitive verb.

More Verbs

• Most verbs can be transitive or intransitive.• Transitive: “She ran the race.”• Intransitive: “She ran.”

Toughest Verbs in English

• To lay, to raise and to set are always transitive.

• To lie, to rise and to sit are always intransitive.

• These six verbs are among the toughest in the English language.

Toughest Verbs in English

• You can’t sit something. You must set it.• You can lie down, but you must lay

something down.• This gets complicated because the parts of

lay and lie are similar.• The present tense of to lay is the past tense

of to lie, which is lay.

Voice

• Only transitive verbs can have voice, either active or passive.

• In the active voice, the subject performs the action. “The dog bit the man.”

• In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. “The mans was bitten by the dog.”

Voice

• The mealy-mouthed love the passive voice.• “The action was taken.” (Who took the

action?)• “Mistakes were made.” (Who goofed?)• Bureaucrats and lousy reporters love the

passive voice. It’s the perfect mask for not knowing who did what.

Voice

• Good journalists prefer the more vigorous active voice.

• Weak: “It was estimated that 500 cars will be affected by the recall.”

• Strong: “Ford estimated that the recall will affect 500 Expeditions.”

Copulation

• (Yes, this headline was intended just to see if you were still awake.)

• Copulative verbs, better known as linking verbs, equate the subject with an adjective, noun or pronoun in the predicate.

• They describe a condition that continues to exist (e.g., is) or a condition of change (e.g., becomes).

Linking Verbs

• The most common is to be. Others include to become, to seem, to look, to taste, to smell, to appear and to feel.

• “War is hell.”• “I feel good.” • “It looks bad.”

Linking Verbs

• Linking verbs either describe the subject or identify the subject.

• If it describes the subject is must be followed by an adjective. (Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns.)

• “She feels bad.” The object describes what she feels.

Linking Verbs

• If you want to describe the verb, use and adverb.

• “She feels badly.” This is right if you mean she has lost her sense of touch.

• See the bad, badly and the good, well entries in the Stylebook for more.

Linking Verbs

• If the linking verb identifies the subject, it must be followed by a noun or pronoun in the same case as the subject.

• The distinction is important because pronouns that follow transitive verbs must be in the objective case, whereas pronouns that follow linking verbs must be in the subjective case.

Linking Verbs

• “Who is there?”• What is the correct answer? • “It is she.”• “It is her.”

Linking Verbs

• Watch out for redundancy.• “That is the reason why he went to jail.”• Delete either the reason or why.

Linking Verbs

• As you will have noted, some verbs can be either transitive or linking.

• This means editors have to look at intent.• “He grew impatient.” (He got restless.)• “He grew impatiently.” (This describes

what he became. Perhaps he grew three feet and gained 50 pounds overnight.)

Linking Verbs

• Confused?• Welcome to the club.• The best solution is to weigh the sentence

and attempt to determine the writer’s or the speaker’s intent.

Application

• Consider whether a story could be improved by replacing weak, vague, overused and passive verbs with strong, specific, active verbs.

• The verb to hold is overused and weak.• “The committee meeting will be held on

Sunday.”• Better: “The committee will meet Sunday.”

Application

• “There are nine senators who voted for the bill.”

• Better: “Nine senators voted for the bill.”• “John Terry will be the editor of the sports

section.”• Better: “John Terry will edit the sports

section.”

Application

• Resist the temptation to turn nouns into verbs.

• Turning debut into a verb is awkward.• How about sky?

Adjective

• Adjectives describe or modify nouns, pronouns and other adjectives.

• Editors are concerned with four kinds of adjectives: descriptive, vague, editorial and redundant.

• Keep descriptive adjectives that provide factual information. Jettison the others.

Adjective

• Editorial adjectives, such as great, dramatic, fantastic, spectacular, express unattributed opinion.

• Vague adjectives (big, small, recent, various) should be replaced with specifics.

• Redundant adjectives include prior planning, personal friend, rich heiress and longest single journey.

Adjective

• Watch out for the ambiguity that can result if two adjectives precede a noun.

• Example: small business man. Is this a measurement of the business or the man?

• If it is meant to describe the business insert a hyphen and create a compound modifier (small-business man.)

• How about two point victories?

Adjective

• “I saw a giant man eating squid.”• Is this some terror from the deep or is Yao

Ming dining on calamari?• “The book was thought provoking.”• If it provokes thought, insert a hyphen. If

most readers thought the book provoked them, leave it alone.

Adjective

• A common student error is to compound the adjective with the noun that it modifies.

• Wrong: “The team won a two-point-victory.”

The Limiting Adjective

• Compare:• “A is an article. Other articles are an and

the.”• “A is an article. The other articles are an

and the.”• The first example implies that there are

more than three articles. The second implies that the set is complete.

The Limiting Adjective

• A father and mother constitute a couple.• A father and a mother might not.• Do not omit articles that contribute to

clarity.• A friend and helper could mean one or two

people. A friend and a helper makes it clear that it is two people.

About Articles

• The AP Stylebook requires a before consonant sounds and an before vowel sounds. The key is sounds.

• Applying the rule can be tricky. For instance, how do you pronounce “history?”

Comparisons

• Comparisons take three forms: single, comparative and superlative.

• Singular: “I am happy.”• Comparative: “I am happier.” (Talking

about yourself and one other person.)• Superlative: “I am happiest.” (If you are

talking about more than two people.)

Comparisons

• Some adjectives are absolute and may not be compared.

• Examples include absolute, dead, entire, equal, fatal, final, infinite, mortal, omnipotent, parallel, pregnant, total, unanimous, ultimate and unique.

• There is no such thing as a little dead or most unique.

Adverb

• An adverb describes verbs, other adverbs and adjectives but never nouns or pronouns.

• Adverbs tell where, when or how much.• Adverbs, even more than adjectives, are

overused.• A story may be improved by deleting vague

intensifiers such as very, recently, soon, actually and basically.

Preposition

• Prepositions show the relationship of the noun to which it applies and other words in the sentence: to Minnesota, with pleasure, for money.

• The noun or pronoun following a preposition is called its object. Together, the preposition and its object form a prepositional phrase.

Preposition

• Choosing the correct preposition is one of the nightmares of the English language.

• Should you invite someone to dinner or for dinner?

• Does your dog go into the house or in the house?

• It depends on your intent.

Preposition

• Do not set off prepositional phrases with commas.

• Wrong: “Pete Best, of Phoenix, is attending law school.”

• Right: “Pete Best of Phoenix is attending law school.”

• Right: “Pete Best, Phoenix, is attending law school.” (Phoenix is a nonessential word.)

Conjunction

• Conjunctions connect similar structures.• Dissimilar elements belong in separate

sentences.• There are three kinds of conjunctions:

coordinating, subordinating and correlative.

Coordinating Conjunctions• Coordinating conjunctions connect

equivalents. Examples include for, and, nor, or, as, but, so and yet.

• If two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction, precede the conjunction with a comma.

• Right: “It works, and It fills a need.”• Wrong: “It’s expensive, however, it was

worth the price.” (Not a coordinating conjunction)

Coordinating Conjunctions• Like, a preposition, is often used in place of

as, a coordinating conjunction.• Wrong: “You can view information like you

would on your desktop PC.”• Wrong: “Because of his foot injury, he can’t

jump and shoot like he need to.”• See also the like, as entry in the AP

Stylebook.

Correlative Conjunctions• They also join equivalent elements.• Examples include either … or, neither …

nor, both … and, just as … so, not only … but also and whether … or.

• The trick here is to maintain parallelism among elements.

• Both ends must balance.

Correlative Conjunctions• Wrong: “The FBI is either inefficient or the

organization is corrupt.”• Right: “The FBI is either inefficient or

corrupt.”• The element that follows or must match the

element that follows either. • In the incorrect example, either is followed

by an adjective; or is followed by an independent clause.

Correlative Conjunctions• Wrong: “The balance sheet isn’t as healthy

as the year before.”• Right: “The balance sheet isn’t as healthy as

it was the year before.”• Watch out for the possible redundancy in

both … and.• Not recommended: “Both Sowell and

Ketterer are professors.”• Better: “Sowell and Ketterer are

professors.”

Subordinating Conjunctions• They introduce adverbial clauses.• Examples include because, before, since,

that, though, unless and until.• The clauses they introduce are usually

dependent.• Whether the conjunctions should be

proceeded by a comma depends on whether the clause is essential or nonessential.

Subordinating Conjunctions• Consider: “Conners hasn’t played since he

broke his wrist.”• Why isn’t there a comma before since?• It is essential. The clause tells how long it

has been since Conners played. Without the clause the sentence wouldn’t make sense.

Conjunctions

• We all know that one of the rules is to never start a sentence with a conjunction.

• But it’s fun to break the rule.

Interjections

• A catchall category for words like well, uh, ouch.

• Spelling them is the trick. • What is the correct spelling of a sneeze? A

feeling of cold? Disgust? Aaaaugh?

Interjections

• This is the last slide.• Yeeeee-haw!