MMC 3123- Midterm Review Ch 2-6
"The politicians met on a holiday as the discussion about the anti-terrorism measures was an urgent one."The use of 'anti' in the statement is an example of which system in the English language?
Lexicon
Which systems are concerned with the words that form an integral part of the English language?
Lexicons
Plurals Rules
Most plurals for nouns are formed by simply adding s to the root word. Nouns ending with s, z, x, ch or sh usually require an es ending to form the plural: quiz, quizzes; mess, messes; wish, wishes; fix, fixes. When a word ends with a consonant and then a y, the y is changed to i and es is added: army, armies. When a word ends in a vowel and a y, you can simply add an s for the plural: bay, bays. Compound words without hyphens simply take an s on the end (cupful, cupfuls), but compound words with a hyphen take the s on the significant word (son-in-law, sons-in-law). The AP Stylebook advises that 's should be used only in forming the plural of single letters (A's, B's) but not figures (1920s, 727s). Never use 's to form the plural of a word that is fully spelled out.
A journalist has three fundamental sources of information:
Observation People Records
If a person is interested in learning about the sounds of a language and the system in which it is spoken, then what should that individual study?
Phonology
Impersonal reporter
Reporters should be invisible in their writing.
What refers to the meanings that are assigned to words, and can change over time as words can mean different or multiple things?
Semantics
Commas used conventionally
Some instances in writing demand commas, such as large figures (28,000), dates, addresses, and inverted names (Smith, John C.). These occasions do not change meaning but often help in the visual presentation of the information.
Open-ended questions
Sometimes an interviewer will want to give subjects the chance to say anything they want. Open-ended questions allow this to happen.
Which stylebook proposes writing a novel's title as, "Simulating the Sufferer"?
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law
Interviewing Steps
The first step in interviewing is deciding, sometimes simultaneously, what information is needed and who would be the best source for that information. The second step to a successful interview is preparing for the conversation. This preparation may include doing research on the topic of the interview or on the person to be interviewed. Another part of the preparation phase of the interview is figuring out what questions to ask. One of the most important products of planning an interview is a list of questions that will be asked when the interview takes place The next step in the interview process is to establish contact with the source and to set up some mutually agreeable time and place to conduct the interview. During the interview itself, a reporter should keep in mind why the interview is taking place: to obtain certain information but also to remain open to the possibility that other, more interesting or important information may be obtained
Inverted Pyramid
The inverted pyramid is the most commonly used structure for a news story both in print and on the Web. information should be presented in the order of its importance, the most important facts coming at the beginning a story should be written so that if it needs to be cut, it can be cut from the bottom without loss of essential facts or coherence.
Commas used to separate items
These commas separate introductory clauses or phrases from other parts of the sentence ("After driving all night, they were exhausted.") items in a series ("The flag is red, white and blue"—if we use AP style) and parts of a compound sentence ("The sky is blue, and the grass is green.").
Official Sources
These sources are thought to have expertise on the subject, not mere opinions. they would have a large amount of credibility with the reader. criticism Studies of sources used by journalists show that the sources themselves are relatively few in number, thus limiting the range of information and opinion that is presented to the reader. Another objection to the use of official sources is that too few people who are affected by events are quoted. are often ignored. Finally, media critics object to official sources because they are likely to be white and male. Relatively few women and members of other ethnic and racial groups make it into the realms of official sources.
Closed-ended questions
These usually require very short answers, or the questions may contain a choice of answers from which the respondent will choose.
Style Manual of the U.S. Government Printing Office.
This is the style guide for all government publications and is particularly good in dealing with governmental material and foreign languages.
Repetitions repeat words or phrases more than is necessary for the reader to understand what is meant. Repetition is also an indication that the editor was not concentrating on the story.
True
Writers should be confident enough in their use of the language that they can use a variety of words. In particular, writers should avoid repeating a verb from sentence to sentence. except the word said
True
Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences
When two independent clauses are contained in a sentence, they must be connected by two things: a comma and a coordinating conjunction. The following sentence lacks a coordinating conjunction: I ran down the street, he ran after me. This sentence is an example of a comma splice or a run-on sentence. The sentence needs a coordinating conjunction to help separate the two independent clauses. The sentence written correctly is "I ran down the street, and he ran after me."
AP style rules for Ages
Writers should always use figures for ages: a 2-month-old baby; he was 80; the youth, 18, and the girl, 6, were rescued.
Apostrophe Rules
_______________________Is it its, it's, or its'?_____________________________ -Its (without the apostrophe) is the possessive of the pronoun it, as in "its final score." -It's (with the apostrophe) is a contraction meaning it is, as in "it's hard to tell." -Its' is not a word. Finally, you should not use an apostrophe to form the possessive of a pronoun. Hers', yours' and theirs' are incorrect; they should be hers, yours and theirs.
A newspaper report states, "The authorities of Pasadena, California are trying to restore the parts of the city that have been ghettoized."The use of the word "ghettoized" is an example of
a stereotype.
The statement, "There is a tendency for mass audiences to believe what they see and read in the mass media", emphasizes the responsibility of the writer to adhere to which of the three concepts in media writing?
accuracy
The three most important concepts of media writing are:
accuracy, brevity, and clarity the most important is accuracy.
The chief goal of any writer for the mass media is clarity.
accuracy.
A newspaper report stated, "On Saturday, the finance director indicated that it is absolutely essential to launch special projects as advanced planning for integrating the components of the Banking and Investment sectors." Which phrase is an example of redundancy?
advanced planning
A newspaper report states, "The chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, D.C. correctly noted that our urban development plans are in serious trouble."The statement is an example where the reporter has failed
as an impersonal reporter
While writing an article on wildlife, Anil wrote the sentence, "The tiger was hungry, it was too tired to hunt." The error that Anil made in the sentence is called
comma splice
A sentence that contains two independent clauses and a dependent clause is called a
compound-complex sentence
Stylebooks deal primarily with three concepts:
consistency, usage, and precision
"A story should be written so that if it needs to be cut, it can be cut from the bottom without loss of essential facts or coherence." This statement refers to a structure the writer has to follow while writing a news story. Identify the structure.
inverted pyramid
Style
is a special set of language rules that a publication adopts It promotes consistency among its writers and to reduce confusion among its readers
Which term best describes the specialized language used by any group?
jargon
Chicago Style differences
mandates that numbers one through 100 be spelled out, whereas AP style says that numbers one through nine should be spelled out.
Period
most often used to end sentences, but it has other uses, such as ending abbreviations (Mr.).
A newspaper report states, "At its Monday evening meeting, the City Council sanctioned funds for buying the new computer system." Because readers would likely ask, "What new computer system?", this excerpt illustrates a situation in which the reporter is
not specific
According to Roy Copperud, the author of A Dictionary of Usage and Style, style rules should promote
readability.
Skyler joined a new publication that writes about the weather patterns of the two American continents. The publication house has a directive to refer to the continents as "North and South America" instead of "the Americas", whenever referring to both of them. The objective of this directive is to promote consistency among its writers and to
reduce confusion among its readers.
The use of phrases such as "component parts" while explaining an idea is called
redundancy
"Chicago style," a style that is used by most book publishers
true
A paraphrase may use some of the exact words of the source, and the writer may want to put those inside quotation marks.
true
A redundancy uses too many words to express an idea.
true
A stylebook establishes the rules of writing for a publication.
true
Constantly questioning what you have written and making reasonable changes is not just the mark of a good writer
true
Direct quotations are the words that the source has used to express an idea; the words should be surrounded by quotation marks.
true
Editors are the governors of the style of a publication. It is their job to see that style rules are applied consistently and reasonably
true
If a news source makes an accusation about another person, standard journalism practice demands that the accused person be given a chance to answer in the same story.
true
In being objective, news people should not inject themselves or their opinions into a report.
true
In some instances, rewriting the sentence using plurals is easier: "Students should always do their homework." Sometimes a sentence can be rewritten so that it does not require any pronoun: "Students should always do homework."
true
Indirect quotations, or paraphrases, express what the source said but use different words from those the source used.
true
It is no longer acceptable to use the pronoun he when the referent may be a man or woman. "A student should always do his homework" should be "A student should always do his or her homework."
true
Journalists should make sure that they are not being used by news sources and being put in the position of creating news rather than letting it occur and then covering it.
true
Journalists should not take sides in a controversy and should take care not even to appear to take sides.
true
No journalist can claim to be a completely unbiased, objective observer and deliverer of information.
true
Objectivity means that a news reporter, editor, and publisher should report only what they know and can find out.
true
One of the basic tenets of American journalism is fairness
true
Promoting consistency in writing is the main reason for the existence of any stylebook.
true
Readers and viewers often realize that reporters are involved in the stories they cover, and news organizations believe that they should honestly state what that involvement is.
true
Reporters should not only set aside their own views and opinions but also avoid direct contact with the reader through the use of first-person (I, we, me, our, my, us) or second-person (you, your) pronouns outside of direct quotes.
true
The concepts of balance and fairness are sometimes referred to as objectivity
true
The newspaper is thus the repository of the language
true
The opposite of clarity is confusion.
true
a reference to the president of the United States is always simply president, in lowercase, except in referring to a specific person, such as President Clinton.
true
balance means that journalists should understand the relative importance of the events they cover and should not write stories that overplay or underplay that importance.
true
using quotation marks around a word or group of words means that someone has spoken or written those exact words
true
writers in the mass media should make sure that what they write conforms to the generally accepted rules of spelling and that the spellings they use do not distract or surprise the reader
true
all quotations must be attributed
true except when there is the case in which there is no doubt about the source of the quote
Question mark
used to end interrogative sentences
Exclamation point
used to end sentences and expressions of excitement. is rarely used by the professional writer in a professional setting—For the most part, its not necessary if the proper words are used to convey the information or idea. its one of those things that grows stronger the less you use it. Save it for when you really need it
Colons
used to introduce a list: "The flag contains the following colors: red, white and blue." may also be used to separate two sentences when the second explains or clarifies the first ("The winner is clear: Jose is far ahead of everyone else.").
Semicolons
used to separate independent clauses in the same sentence and to separate items in a series that contains commas ("Attending the dinner were John Smith, Mayor of Tuscaloosa; Mary Johnson, President of the League of Women Voters; Joe Jones, Vice President of Jones Steel, Inc.; and Rhonda Jackson, Head of the Committee for Better Government").
Apostrophe
we use it to form possessives, as in "Mary's hat" and "Tom's book." If a word ends in s or the plural of the noun is formed by adding s, the apostrophe generally goes after the final s, and no other letter is needed. For example, the possessive of the word hostess is hostess'. The plural possessive of the word team is teams'.
Spelling correctly involves three ways of thinking:
-applying phonics -memorizing some words -Knowing the rules that usually apply to most words
An excerpt from a newspaper report reads,"After a tornado hit seven miles south of Georgetown, Carolina yesterday, more than 100 houses were torn apart and an estimated $4,150,780 worth of public property was damaged, with Main Street being the most affected. The city mayor, Davis Benjamin, said that the relief force is in action to relocate the affected population."Identify the terms that followed the guidelines of The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law.
100 houses, city mayor Davis Benjamin
AP style rules for Punctuation
A colon is used in clock time: 8:15 a.m.; 9:15 p.m.; 10 p.m. (not 10:00 a.m.) The comma is omitted before Roman numerals and before Jr. and Sr. in names: Adlai Stevenson III; John Elliot Jr. General rules for the hyphen are as follows: The hyphen is used in phrasal adjectives: a 7-year-old boy; an off-the-cuff opinion; a little-known man The hyphen is not used in sequences in which the adverb has an "-ly" suffix: a gravely ill patient; a relatively weird student In combinations of a number plus a noun of measurement, use a hyphen: a 3-inch bug; a 6-foot man; a two-man team A hyphen is always used with the prefix "ex-": ex-president ex-chairman
AP style rules for Abbreviation
Abbreviation The only titles for which abbreviations are called for (all before the name) are Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., the Rev., Sen. and most military ranks. Standing alone, all of these are spelled out and are lowercased. Check the stylebook for others. Spell out—do not abbreviate—names of organizations, firms, agencies, universities and colleges, groups, clubs, or governmental bodies the first time the name is used. But abbreviate such names on second reference, as here: First reference: Civil Aeronautics Board Second reference: the board First reference: National Organization for Women Second reference: NOW Do not use an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses after the first reference of a full name. Wrong: The Radical Underwater First United Sailors (RUFUS) meets tonight. Right: The Radical Underwater First United Sailors meets tonight. Avoid unfamiliar acronyms. Wrong: RUFUS was formed in 1923. In street addresses, abbreviate: Street: St. 1234 Goober St. Avenue: Ave. 3506 Loblolly Ave. Boulevard: Blvd. 80 Crabtree Blvd. But the words road, alley, circle and drive are never abbreviated.
AP style rules for Spellings
Alternative spellings and variants are incorrect (because of the requirement of style consistency). Make it adviser, not advisor; employee, not employe; totaled, not totalled; traveled, not travelled; kidnapped, not kidnaped; judgment, not judgement; television, not TV, when used as a noun; under way, not underway; percent, not per cent; afterward, not afterwards (and the same for toward, upward, and forward); vs., not versus or vs; vice president, not vice-president
What are the nouns that are referred to by pronouns called?
Antecedents
A(n) ________ is a punctuation mark, which is primarily used to form possessives.
Apostrophe
Stanley, the man who drew a dragon tattoo on his hand himself, was awarded the Best Street Decorator last week. According to English grammar, what is the italicized segment of the statement called, and why?
Appositive phrase; as it renames the noun "Stanley"
AP style rules for Numerals
As a general rule, spell out both cardinal and ordinal numbers from one through nine. Use Arabic figures for 10 and above: first day; one woman; 10 days 21st year; nine years; 50 more Use commas in numbers with four or more digits, except in years and street addresses: 1,500 eggplants; 23,879 students 7034 Aunt Bea St.; the year 1984 The words billion and million may be used with round numbers: 3 million miles; $3 million 10 billion years; $10 billion Numbers greater than a million, including sums of money, may be rounded off and expressed as a decimal: 2.75 million rather than 2,752,123 About $2.35 million rather than $2,349,999 Use numbers to indicate distances: 6 miles; 25 yards
An opinion piece from the British Guardian reads, "The possibility of National Group of Neat Construction Co. completing the Welfare project within the specified deadline is akin to boiling the ocean. The company needs to engage in advance planning to finish the project in a more timely manner." Identify the jargon mentioned in the statement.
Boiling the ocean
AP style rules for Capitalization
Capitalization Capitalize names of holidays, historic events, church feast days, and special events, but not seasons: Mother's Day; Labor Day; Orientation Week fall storm; autumn leaves; winter tomatoes Do not capitalize points of the compass in general usage: an east wind; southern Arkansas western Canada; southeast Forrest County But do capitalize points of the compass when part of the name of a recognized geographic area: Southern California; Midwest the South; the West Coast Capitalize the proper names of nationalities, peoples, races, and tribes: Indian; Arab; Caucasian African-American; Hispanic Capitalize and place quotation marks around the names of books, plays, poems, songs, lectures or speech titles, hymns, movies, TV programs and the like, when the full name is used: "The Simpsons"; "The Catcher in the Rye" "Star Wars"; "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" "Arsenic and Old Lace"
Two sentences, where the second one clarifies the first, can be separated using which punctuation mark?
Colon
"I rode on a bike, he preferred walking." Which rule of comma usage is this statement violating, and why?
Comma splice and run on sentences; because the two independent clauses can be separated by a comma only if accompanied by a coordinating conjunction.
Consider the statement, "Patricia went to the store to buy some bread eggs and soda." Which rule for using commas is the sentence violating?
Comma used to separate items
Commas between Subjects and Verbs
Commas should be used to separate phrases and other elements in a sentence, but they should not be used solely to separate a subject from its verb. You would not write, "The boy, sat on the bench," nor should you write, "The moment the train comes in, is when we will see her" or "Having no money, is a difficult thing."
While writing the weather report for the coming week, Leonard used the sentence, "It will be sunny on Tuesday after some showers during the initial hours of the day." What kind of a sentence has Leonard used here?
Complex
What kind of a sentence contains two independent clauses separated by a comma and a coordinating conjunction?
Compound
AP style rules for Usage
Comprise means "to contain," not "to make up." "The region comprises five states," not "five states comprise the region" and not "the region is comprised of five states." Affect means "to influence," not "to carry out." Effect means "a result" when it is a noun and "to carry out" when it is a verb. Controller and comptroller are both pronounced "controller" and mean virtually the same thing, though comptroller is generally the more accurate word for denoting government financial officers, and controller is better for denoting business financial officers. Hopefully does not mean "it is hoped," "we hope," "maybe," or "perhaps." It means "in a hopeful manner." "Hopefully, editors will study the English language" is not an acceptable use of the word hopefully.
What are the three concepts that stylebooks mainly concentrate on?
Consistency, usage, and precision
AP style rules for Dates
Don't use tonight with p.m. or this morning with a.m., because it is redundant. Don't use the terms yesterday and tomorrow to describe when an event occurred. It is acceptable, however, to say today. ...if the event occurs in the last week or the next week. But use the calendar date if the event is longer than a week ago or farther than a week off. Use the time date format Right: The train arrives at 3 p.m. Jan. 3. Wrong: The train arrives on Jan. 3 at 3 p.m. Use either the date or the day Right: The fireman's ball will be on Jan. 3. Wrong: The fireman's ball will be on Monday, Jan. 3.
Spelling Rules
Doubling the Final Consonant Adding an ending to a word that ends with a consonant often requires that the final consonant be doubled. plan, planned; prefer, preferred; wit, witty; hot, hottest; swim, swimming; stop, stopped; bag, baggage; beg, beggar There are a few exceptions. One illustrates the impact of the accent on certain syllables. Refer becomes reference, without doubling the r, but the accent also changes away from the final syllable when the suffix is added. There are other exceptions, including words ending in k, v, w, x and y, and words such as benefit, benefited; chagrin, chagrined (the stress stays on the final syllable of the new word but the end consonant does not double). Dropping the Final e The final e is usually dropped when adding a syllable beginning with a vowel. come, coming; guide, guidance; cure, curable; judge, judging; plume, plumage; force, forcible; use, usage Exceptions include sale, saleable; mile, mileage; peace, peaceable; dye, dyeing. Retaining the Final e The final e is usually retained when adding a syllable beginning with a consonant. use, useless; late, lately; hate, hateful; move, movement; safe, safety; white, whiteness; pale, paleness; shame, shameful Exceptions include judge, judgment; argue, argument. Words ending in a double e retain both e's before an added syllable. free, freely; see, seeing; agree, agreement, agreeable Retaining Double Consonants Words ending in a double consonant retain both consonants when one or more syllables are added. ebb, ebbing; enroll, enrollment; full, fullness; dull, dullness; skill, skillful; odd, oddly; will, willful; stiff, stiffness Using all, well and full as Compounds Compounds of all, well and full drop one l. always, almost, welfare, welcome, fulfill Exceptions include fullness and occasions when a word is hyphenated (as with full-fledged). Using i before e In words with ie, the i comes before the e, except after a c. receive, deceive, relieve, believe Exceptions include neighbor, weigh, foreign, weird, ancient and caffeine. Changing y to i A final y preceded by a consonant is usually changed to i with the addition of an ending not beginning with i. army, armies; spy, spies; busy, business Exceptions include shy, shyness; pity, piteous (but not pitiful). The ay endings are usually exceptions: play, played. Using -ede or -eed In deciding whether to use -ede or -eed, use -eed for one-syllable words (deed, need, speed) and for the two-syllable words exceed, indeed, proceed and succeed. Supersede is the only word that ends with -ede, while some words use -ede as a suffix (accede, concede, precede, recede)
AP Style: Names and Titles
Generally, identify people in the news by their first name, middle initial, and last name: David R. Smoots Fred L. Rogers Use full identification in the first reference, but in the second reference, use last name only: Richard Cooper (first reference) Cooper (second reference) Angeline Smoots (first reference) Smoots (second reference) While proper titles are capitalized and abbreviated when placed before a person's name (except for the word president), titles that follow a person's name are generally spelled out and not capitalized: Voinovich, governor of Ohio Pitts, a state representative Wallbanger, director of the Goofus League Do not use courtesy titles, such as Mr., Mrs., and Miss, unless not using them would cause confusion. Mr. Smith was killed in the accident, but Mrs. Smith survived.
AP style rules for Dimensions
Generally, writers should use figures for dimensions: He is 5 feet 9 inches tall; the 5-foot 9-inch woman; a 7-footer; the car left a skid mark 8 inches wide and 17 feet long; the rug is 10 by 12; the storm brought 1½ inches of rain (spell out fractions less than one).
Following are some tips for achieving brevity:
Get to the Point Watch for Redundancies and Repetitions Cut out Unnecessary Words
Only those few events that editors and news directors select and that have at least one of the following criteria can be classified as news:
Impact Timeliness Prominence Proximity Conflict The Bizarre or Unusual Currency
Style
In media writing, style is the general orientation a writer has toward his or her work. Style is the set of conventions and assumptions underlying the writing and the generally accepted rules of writing and usage for a particular medium.
If a writer wants to convey a strong emotion to the readers, using which part of speech in a sentence would help him or her achieve this?
Interjection
Following are some tips for helping writers and editors to achieve clarity in their writing:
Keep It Simple Avoid All Kinds of Jargon Be Specific Check the Time Sequence Include Transitions Take on the Complex Topic
