The Craft of Writing

Active vs Passive Voice

Active / passive Like you, a number of students remain confused about active voice and passive voice. Here's a re-statement about...

Brevity: Every Word Must Earn Its Place

Brevity Sometimes you use unnecessary words. BREVITY is one of the basic elements of good writing. You need to go over your work...

Vagueness is a Journalistic Sin

Vagueness is a journalistic sin Vagueness is one of the most common sins in journalism. Think about these questions: How many is...

First person

First person, second person, third person. Also called 'point of view.' What does it mean? Here is a brief definition. If you...

Show, Don't Tell

Show don't tell You may be are having some trouble in your writing, using inadequate 'telling' rather than powerful 'showing'...

Style Guides

Style guides, sometimes called editorial guidelines. The truth is today, few publications give out style guides. I believe they...

Adjectives: A Trap for New Writers

Adjectives a trap Do not depend on adjectives, use strong verbs. This is still one of the best pieces of advice I was given early...

Apostrophes: A Simple Guide

The apostrophe Many writers (even good ones) mis-use the apostrophe. But you will find that editors appreciate articles with...

Commas: The Essential Guide

A comma is a useful and important punctuation mark. And it is commonly mis-used. Too many commas in the one sentence A sentence...

Blah Blah Blah: Empty Writing

Blah, blah, blah By Paul Sheehan Re-printed with kind permission of The Sydney Morning Herald World Youth Day is going to be a...

Bibliographies and References

Now, regarding: copies of research articles copies of internet research bibliographies lists of references inventories thanks to...

Anecdotes: Why They Matter

Anecdotes I feel you could know more about the benefit of anecdotes. An anecdote is a small story. Column 8 in The Sydney Morning...

Books to Buy

You ask about books. I always recommend Abbey's. It is at 131 York Street, opposite Sydney's historic Queen Victoria Building...

Bullet Points: Use With Care

Bullet points (or dot lists) Modern journalism strives to make it easy for the reader to read quickly, so bullet points (or dot...

Business speak

'Business speak' is boring and poor journalism Some of the words and phrases you were using are what I call boring 'business...

Buzzwords: Stop Using Them

Buzzwords Careful of using too many buzzwords But , you might enjoy this interview!! Frank Lingua, president and CEO of...

Can-could-should-would-will-shall

You need to know about correct usage of words. Here are four sets of words about which even experienced freelance journalists can...

Capitals

Capital letters Some directions to my students on capitals: ?I would ask that you don't write in ALL CAPITALS. First of all it...

Cliches - corny

'*' What a corny cliche. You can say that about anything. Will your dog win the lottery? Will the sun come up tomorrow? Will...

Colon

You need advice about the colon (:) . . . a full stop on top of a full stop. It's different to the semi-colon (;) which is a full...

Commonly Confused Words

Some word pairs in English are so close in look and sound that a lot of journalists, even good ones, mix them up. This is the...

Compliment-complement

You've mixed up compliment and complement. Compliment is something you communicate to someone, such as 'You have gorgeous hair'...

Eg

In journalism, never write e.g.: eg = exempli gratia But who knows the old Latin expression exempli gratia? Did you know? I...

Ellipsis...

You have not used the ellipsis correctly. An ellipsis is three fullstops or dots, like this . . . It's not four or five dots or a...

Etc

Et cetera or etc is a horrible expression and really has no place in journalism. If you write 'etc' you are asking the reader to...

Every day

You made an error, not knowing the difference between everyday [one word] and every day [two words]. Every day (two words) means...

Exclamation Marks: Stop Overusing Them!!!

!!!!! I caution you against the use of the exclamation mark, or 'exclaimer'. Children and teenagers use a lot of exclaimers...

Factual errors-accuracy

Factual errors and accuracy Plagiarism may be the worst sin in journalism, but a close second is creating a factual error (or any...

Famous transcript

Famous person transcript This is an exercise in turning a transcript (nothing but verbatim spoken quotes recorded on a recorder)...

Foreign words

Regarding the use of foreign words in articles. The English language uses lots of foreign words that become so familiar, they...

Former-latter

I know you see it all the time in good journalism - the use of 'the former' and the use of 'the latter'. Personally, I hate those...

Full Stops: Keep It Simple

The fullstop I thought you might benefit from some information on the fullstop (or periods or dot, as the Americans call it)...

Get got

I notice you've used the word 'got' or *'get'. I use 'got' or 'get' sometimes in speaking, but in writing I usually replace it...

Grammar-books, internet

Regarding grammar books. I can recommend one small book that will answer most of your questions: The Plain English Guide by...

Honorifics, be careful

Be careful about using honorifics As your WordGenius disk will tell you, an honorific is a title or term of respect, as Doctor...

How to Write Ages

Ages of people Editors of most publications want to know how old people are. If a person is rowing single-handed around...

Hyphen-dash

You are mixing up the hyphen and the dash. A hyphen is this: - It's usually used to join words together such as 'joint-owners' or...

I and i

You must never write 'i' when you mean 'I'. It makes you look LAZY. Too lazy to press the shift key while pressing the 'i' key...

i.e. vs e.g.: Getting It Right

In journalism, never write i.e. or ie. ie = id est But who knows the old Latin expression id est? Did you know? I didn't. I had...

Importance of happenings quotes anecdotes

Importance of happenings, quotes and examples (Adjectives are a trap) Allow me to explain the statement: 'Do not depend on...

Its-it's

You've mixed up its and it's as many people do. its is the possessive form. This is one of the few possessive forms of a word in...

Latin Abbreviations for Journalists

Most Latin abbreviations in English have faded out of newspaper copy. A few remain. Simon's rule was that a journalist who uses a...

Lay-lie

Lay and lie. It's important to get it right, even though many editors don't know the difference. Lay means to put something down...

Mangling language

Re-printed from 'The Weekend Australian Financial Review', with kind permission What the hell are you talking about? The business...

Numbers

NUMBERS must be written correctly Be sure to re-read an edition of your target publication and check how it uses numbers, because...

Obscenity, how to write it

How to write obscenity Obscenity . . . how do you deal with the use of profanity in print? Today swearing, sexually-charged words...

Only

You have put the word only in the wrong place. Be careful with the word only. Top flight journalists frequently use it sloppily...

Opinions, columns

You seem keen to write expressing your own opinion. I do not agree with your journalism journey which expresses a lot of...

Oxymoron, what is it

Oxymoron: what is it? A dictionary definition: 'A rhetorical figure in which an epigrammatic effect is created by the conjunction...

Oz DownUnder nicknames

The nicknames Oz or Down Under for Australia are terms much disliked by Australian journalists. I advise you not to use either...

Plaigarism ruins careers

Plagiarism . . . how it ruins careers Although I am writing very firmly in this article, I'm really trying to help students who...

Pseudonyms

I advise against fake names Regarding pen names or pseudonyms . . . I strongly recommend against the idea of you using a fake...

Round-up

Regarding the term round-up. 'Round-up' in journalism has varying shades of meaning. But usually it's a current, breaking story...

Semi-colon

A comment on the semi-colon (;) which is a full stop on top of a comma. I never use semi-colons. In all writing I have ever seen...

Sexist language

You have used sexist language. * Unless you're writing for 'lads' mags' like Ralph or FHM, or some old fashioned country weekly...

Shorthand

Shorthand Some students ask my advice on shorthand. I'm not a good judge of this question. I squibbed-out of learning shorthand...

Sic

You use sic as [sic] or (sic) when something (a name, a fact, whatever . . .) APPEARS to be an error, it's not - at least not...

Spelling American

You spelt a word the American way instead of the Australian way. To avoid this in future, set your Microsoft Word program on...

Spelling Traps for Australian Journalists

Australian English sits between British and American conventions, closer to the British but with its own character. A working...

Stop Writing 'Thing'

You're using that awful word 'thing' . . . it's a vague word. It has little real meaning. Well, it has many meanings if you look...

Student Journalism Awards

The National Press Club of Australia in partnership with the National Australia Bank are proud to launch the NAB Excellence in...

Sue you

Sue you: anyone can You are wondering about someone suing you over your article. Could someone sue you? Of course they could. In...

Sweet talk

Sweet talking : Let me tell you the hard truth - you MUST train yourself 'SWEET TALK' people. You must train yourself NOT to take...

Tautology: Saying It Twice

Tautology . . . what is it? You could have easily looked this up yourself, by going back through an experienced editorials, or on...

The Ampersand (&)

This symbol & is called an ampersand. Please don't use an ampersand instead of the word 'and'. If you are writing about a firm...

The Average Australian

You have written about the 'average Australian'. This is silly. Even though people (and journalists to their disgrace) speak of...

The Bleedin' Obvious

You've stumbled into the bleedin' obvious. Have you heard of John Cleese of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers? He had a saying...

The Model Release Form

A 'model release form' can be any set of words you make up that clearly expresses an agreement between you and the 'model'...

The Two-Person Feature

How to write (and make money from) your 'two people' feature By SIMON TOWNSEND Think of two people you know who have a long-term...

The Weight of Words

Pinned down by the weight of words Reprinted with kind permission of the author and The Sydney Morning Herald The new public...

The World of Celebrity Magazines

Reprinted with the kind permission of The Sydney Morning Herald In therapy with Paris and Posh A little light relief ... Paris...

They, Their, His, Her

Regarding the use of 'they' meaning 'him/her' or 'their' meaning 'his/her'. Most publications guard against sexist language. This...

Third world

A thought about your term 'third world'. By the way, Third World and third world are both correct spellings. I think it's a vague...

Trademarks & brandnames

Trade marks / brand names You have used a trade mark (or brand name) incorrectly. The companies that own Kodak, Barbie Dolls...

Trusting the internet

Trusting the internet Can you trust information found on the internet? You CANNOT trust any information put out by questionable...

Very

What's the difference between '?' and 'very?'? You're using that pesky word 'very'. 'Very' is a word to be used sparingly, in...

War

The way mainstream publications refer to the two big 20th century wars is in this way: World War I and World War II, using one...

When Quote Marks Are Unnecessary

You wrote ' ' with quote marks around it. You are unnecessarily using quotation marks around words and phrases, and this is now...

When to Use Italics

Italics Italic type slopes to the right, like this. As opposed to these words which are in bold. These words are in 'regular'. If...

Who or that

You need to know the subtle difference between who and that. The best explanation I've read is in The New York Public Library...

Why We Don't Say 'Destroyed'

Destroyed. I hate that wimpy word as in 'the animal was destroyed'. It's like saying in journalism that someone 'passed away' or...

Word-count

Word-count FIRST question is . . . how many words should be in your article? I don't know. But you can easily make a decision...

Words of praise MINE

Amazing Beauty Blue chip Bobby-dazzler Classy Astonishing Astounding Awesome Incredible Exquisite Crackerjack Crash hot Excellent...

Writer's Digest: 100 Best Websites

Reprinted with permission from 'Writer's Digest' The Best Websites for Writers Category: General reference AwardWeb URL...

Written vs Spoken Quotes

Written quotes vs spoken Regarding conducting an interview (or getting answers to questions) via email or letters. Yes, sure it's...

Wrong words make you look silly

Do not use the WRONG WORD It's easy to mix up words and use the wrong word. Even long-time experienced journalists (like me) do...

You and we

I know you see it in respectable, professional publications all the damn time. But I wish my students wouldn't use 'you', 'we'...

Your and you're

You have confused your and you're. You must, as I do, regard this as a serious spelling error. Your . . . you know what your...