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MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN

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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
LECTURE 30
MECHANICS
ABBREVIATIONS
Use standard abbreviations for titles immediately before and after proper names.
TITLES BEFORE
TITLES AFTER
PROPER NAMES
PROPER NAMES
Mr. Rafael Zabala
William Albert, Sr.
Ms. Nancy Linehan
Thomas Hines, Jr.
Mrs. Edward Horn
Anita Lor, Ph.D.
Dr. Margaret Simmons
Robert Simkowski, M.D.
The Rev. John Stone
Margaret Chin, LL.D.
Prof. James Russo
Polly Stein, D.D. S.
·
My history prof. was an expert on America's use of the atomic bomb in Work War II.
Use abbreviations only when you are sure your readers will understand them.
CIA
FBI
AFL-CIO
NAACP
NBA
UPI
NEA
CD-ROM
YMCA
CBS
USE (for U.S.A)
ESL
Use B.C., A.D., A.M., No., and $ only with specific dates, times, numbers, and amounts.
40 B.C. (or B.C.E)
4:00 A.M. (or am)
No. 12 (or no. 12)
A.D. 44 (or C.E.)
6:00 P.M. (or pm)
$ 150
·
We set off for the late early in the A.M. (morning)
Be sparing in your use of Latin abbreviations.
cf. (Latin confer, "compare"
e.g. (Latin exempli gratia, for example")
et al. (Latin et alii, "and others")
etc. (Latin et cetera, "and so forth")
i.e. (Latin id est, "that is")
N.B. (Latin nota bene, "(note well")
Avoid inappropriate abbreviations.
PERSONAL NAME Charles (Not chase)
UNITS OF MEASUREMENT pound (not lb.)
DAYS OF THE WEEK Monday (not Mon)
HOLIDAYS Christmas (not Xmas)
MONTHS January, February, March, (Not Jan., Feb., Mar)
COURSES OF STUDY political science (not poli Sci)
DIVISIONS OF WRITTEN WORKS Chapter, page (not ch, p)
STATES AND COUNTRIES Massachusetts (not MA or Mass)
PARTS OF A BUSINESS NAME Adams Lighting Company (not Adams Lighting Co.); Kim and Brothers,
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
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Inc. (not Kim and Bros., Inc)
·
Eliza promised to buy me one lb. of Govida chocolate for my birthday, which was last Fri.
NUMBERS
Spell out numbers of one or two words or those that begin a sentence. Use figures for numbers that
require more than two words to spell out.
·  Now, some 8 (eight) years later, Muffin is still with us.
·
I counted one hundred seventy six (176) CD's on the shelf.
·
(One hundred and fifty) 150 children in our program need expensive dental treatment.
Generally figures are acceptable for
1. Dates: May 20, 2007
2. Addresses: 20 The Mall Road, Lahore 54000
3. Parentages: 55 percent (or 55%)
4. Fractions, Decimals: ½, 0.047
5. Scores: 7 to 3, 21-18
6. Statistics: average age 37, weight 180
7. Survey: 4 out of 5
8. Exact amount of money: Rs. 10,000
9. Divisions of books: volume 3, chapter 4, page 189
10. Division of plays: act 3, scene 3
11. Time of day: 4:00 P.M.
ITALICS (UNDERLINING)
Underline or italicize the titles of works according to convention.
Titles of books The Great Gatsby, A Distant Mirror
MAGAZINES Time, Scientific American
NEWSPAPERS the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
PAMPHLETS Common Sense, Facts about Marijuana
LONG POEMS the Waste Land, Paradise Lost
PLAYS King Lear, A Raisin in the Sun
FILMS Casablanca, Independence Day
TELEVISION PROGRAMS Friends, 60 Minutes
RADIO PROGRAMS All Things Considered
Underline or italicize the names of spacecraft, aircraft, ships, and trains.
·
The success of the Soviets Sputnik galvanized the U.S. space program.
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
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Underline or italicize foreign words used in an English sentence.
·
Although Joe's method seemed to be successful, I decided to establish my own modus operandi.
Underline or italicize words mentioned as words, letter mentioned as letters, and numbers mentioned
as numbers.
·
Tim assured us that the howling probably came from his bloodhound, Hill Billy, but his probably stuck in
our minds.
·
Sarah called her farther by his given name, Johnny, but she was unable to pronounce J.
Avoid excessive underlining or italics for emphasis.
·
In line skating is a sport that has become an addiction.
SPELLING
Become familiar with your dictionary.
n.
noun
adj.
adjective
pl.
plural
adv.
adverb
Sing.
singular
pron
pronoun
v.
verb
prep
pronoun
tr.
transitive verb
conj.
preposition
intr.
intransitive verb
interj.
interjection
Discriminate between words that sound alike but have different meanings.
Affect (verb: "to exert an influence")
Effect (verb: "to accomplish": noun: "result")
Its (possessive pronoun: "of or belonging to it")
It's (contraction for "it is")
Loose (adjective: "free, not securely attached")
Lose (verb: "to fail to keep, to be deprived of")
Principal (adjective: "most important"; noun: "head of a school")
Principal (noun: "a general or fundamental truth")
Their (possessive pronoun: "belonging to them")
They're (contraction for "they are")
There (adverb: "that place or position")
Who's (contraction for "who")
Whose (possessive form of "who")
Your (possessive form of "you")
You're (contraction of "you are")
Become familiar with the major spelling rules.
i BEFORE e relieve, believe, sieve, frieze,
e before i receive, deceive, sleigh, freight, eight
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EXCEPTIONS seize, either, weird, height, foreign, leisure
Generally, drop a final silent e when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Keep the final e if the
suffix begins with a consonant.
Desire, desiring, remove, removable
Achieve, achievement, care, careful
When adding ­s or ­d to words ending in ­y, ordinary change the ­y to ­ie when the y is preceded by a
consonant but not when it is preceded by a vowel.
Comedy, comedies, dries, dried
Monkey, monkeys, play, played
If a final consonant is preceded by a single vowel and the consonant ends a one syllable word or a stressed
syllable, double the consonant when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.
Bet, betting, commit, committed, occur, occurrence,
Add ­s to form the plural of most nouns, add ­es to singular nouns ending in ­s, -sh, -ch, and ­x
Table, tables, paper, papers
Church, churches, dish, dishes
AMERICAN
BRITISH
Canceled, traveled
Cancelled, travelled,
Color, humor
Colour, humour
Judgment
Judgement
Check
Cheque
Realize, apologize,
Realise, apologise
Defense
Defence
Anemia, anesthetic
Anaemia, anaesthetic
Theater, center
Theatre, centre
Fetus
Foetus
Mold, smolder
Mould, smoulder
Civilization
Civillisation
Connection, Inflection
Connexion, inflexion
Licorice
Liquorice
THE HYPHEN
Consult the dictionary to determine how to treat a compound word.
·  The prosecutor chose not to cross ­ examine any witnesses.
·
Grandma kept a small note book (notebook) in her apron pocket.
Use a hyphen to connect two or more words functioning together as an adjective before a noun.
·  Mrs. Douglas gave Toshiko a seashell and some newspaper-wrapped fish to take home to her mother.
·
Pricilla hood is not yet a well ­known candidate.
·
After our television campaign, Priscilla Hood will be well-known.
Hyphenate the written form of fractions and of compound numbers from twenty one to ninety nine.
·  One fourth of my income goes to pay off the national debt.
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
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If a word must be divided at the end of a line, divide it correctly.
·
When I returned from overseas, I didn't recog-
-nize one face on the magazine covers.
CAPITAL LETTERS
Capitalize proper nouns and words derived from them; do not capitalize common nouns.
Proper Nouns
Common Nouns
God
god
Pakistan
a country
Journalistic Writing
a language course
Virtual University
a good university
Environmental Protection
a federal agency
Dr. A J Smith
a researcher
Capitalize titles of persons when used as part of a proper name but usually not when used alone.
·  Professor Margaret Barnes; Dr. Harold Stevens; John Scott Williams, Jr.; Anne Tilton, LL.D
·
District Attorney Marshal was reprimanded for badgering the witness.
·
The district attorney was elected for a two years term.
Capitalize the first, last, and all major words in titles and subtitles or works such as books, articles
songs, and online documents.
The Impossible Theater: A Manifesto
The F Plan Diet
"Fire and Ice"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
Capitalize the first word of a sentence
·  When lighting struck the house, the chimney collapses.
Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence but not a quoted phrase.
·
In Time magazine Robert Hughes writes, "There are only about sixty Watteau paintings on whose
authenticity all experts agree."
·
Russell Baker has written that in our country sports are "the opiate of the masses."
Do not capitalize the first word after a colon unless it begins in independent clause, in which case
capitalization is optional.
·  Most of the bar's patrons can be divided into two groups: the occasional after work socializes and the
nothing to go home to regulars.
·
This we are forced to conclude: The (or the) federal government is needed to protect the rights of
minorities.
Capitalize abbreviations for departments and agencies of government, other organizations, and
corporations, capitalize the call letters of radio and television stations.
·  EPA, FBI, OPEC, IBM, WCRB, KNBC-TV
Source: Hacker, Dianna. A Writer's Reference Boston: St. Martin's Press. 1992.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISTIC WRITING:Practical, THINGS TO KNOW
  2. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  3. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  4. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
  5. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct
  6. THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE
  7. THE PROCESS OF WRITING II:ORGANIZING, DRAFTING, REVISING
  8. ALL ABOUT WORDS:HOW WORDS ARE FORMED?:SUFFIXES
  9. DICTIONARY-A WRITER’S LANGUAGE TOOL:KINDS OF INFORMATION
  10. PARTS OF SPEECH:Noun Gender, Noun Plurals, Countable Nouns
  11. BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS
  12. ACTIVE AND PASSSIVE VOICE
  13. MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
  14. REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands
  15. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  16. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES II:SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
  17. EFFECTIVE SENTENCE:PARALLELISM, NEEDED WORDS, SHIFTS
  18. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS I:COLLOQUIAL VS FORMAL, CIRCUMLOCUTION
  19. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS II:AMBIGUITY, REDUNDANCY, EUPHEMISM:
  20. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:STRUCTURE
  21. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:Putting on Our Play
  22. ESSAY WRITING:VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR ESSAYS, PROMPTS
  23. SIGNAL WORDS:Non word Emphasis Signals
  24. EXPOSITORY WRITING:LOGICAL FALLACIES, APPEAL TO EMOTION
  25. THE WRITING STYLES: REPORT and NARRATIVE WRITING, SHORT REPORTS
  26. THE WRITING STYLES: DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSUASIVE WRITINGS, Observation
  27. RESEARCH WRITING AND DOCUMNETING SOURCES:Handling Long Quotations
  28. Summary and Précis Writing:CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SUMMARY
  29. Punctuation:THE PERIOD, THE COMMA, THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON
  30. MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN
  31. READING SKILLS FOR WRITERS:EDUCATED READING, STEPS
  32. PARTS OF A NEWSPAPER:Box-out, By-line, Caption, Exclusive, Feature
  33. THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS II:BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER
  34. News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
  35. NEWS WRITING II:Accuracy, Clarity, Style, Qualities of Effective Leads
  36. EDITORIAL WRITING:WRITING AN EDITORIAL:STRUCTURING AN EDITORIAL
  37. WRITING FEATURES:GENERATING FEATURE STORY IDEAS
  38. WRITING COLUMNS:Column and a news report, Purpose, Audience
  39. WRITING ARTICLES FOR NEWSPAPERS:The Heading, The Lead
  40. WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations
  41. LETTERS TO EDITORS:Four important aspects about letters, Organizing letters
  42. BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE
  43. WRITING PRESS RELEASE, REVIEWS AND OBITUARIES:Summary of Content:
  44. THE ART OF INTERVIEWINGS
  45. FINAL THOUGHTS:Practical, Job-Related, Social, Stimulating, Therapeutic