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Tag Archives: journalism
Using parentheses, commas or dashes to set off an aside
Punctuation has a purpose. When you want to add information in the middle of a sentence that doesn’t quite fit the flow but is essential, the punctuation you employ to set it off signals different levels of emphasis for the reader. … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, public relations, storyteller, Writing
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Word of the day – nausea, nauseous, nauseated
“Sex and death are two things that come but once in my lifetime, but at least after death you’re not nauseous.”— Woody Allen, Sleeper, 1973. Woody is a talented filmmaker and a funny fellow, but he’s wrong about nauseous. Playing … Continue reading
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Tagged editing, grammar, journalism, language, Woody Allen, Words, Writing
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Apostrophe now – What’s missing or what’s owned?
At a Phoenix Suns games some years ago, I found myself in front of a sign reading “Visitor’s locker room.” This is going to be a cake game, I thought. The Suns are playing against only one guy, and that’s … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, PR, Writing
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How to create a news release … and why
When I’m asked to write a PR release, my first question is: Why? In my decades as an editor, most of the PR releases that crossed by desk were merely passing through on the way to the trash can or … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, PR, Press release, public relations, reporters, Writing
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Word of the day – Oral or verbal
These words often are used interchangeably to mean “spoken.” That’s generally not incorrect, but it’s also not precise — and often not really what is intended. Oral is the more precise word for that, as it refers to things of … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, Words, Writing
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Word of the day – who and that
Who’s a who and what’s a that? Who that? A common word mix-up occurs in the “X (who) (that) did Y” construction. This should be an easy one: Who refers to people and that refers to things. The error generally is made … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, public relations, Words, Writing
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Word of the day – Adverse and averse
Adverse and averse have some overlap in that they both refer to things you don’t like. Perhaps that leads to the confused use. Adverse is bad, harmful or against your position, as in adverse weather conditions. Averse is an intense … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, public relations, storyteller, Words, Writing
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Commonly misspelled words
It took Y2K for me to finally have to learn out to spell millennium, and I’ve kept a list of other words that have bedeviled me over the years – plus a few memory joggers on how to spell them … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, Words
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Word of the day – sight, site, cite
Even lawyers goof this up: What a cite to see Arizona’s immigration law sited on so many web sights. A lawyer friend of mine who also happens to be an accomplished writer got this one wrong the other day, so … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, public relations, Words, Writing
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Three ways to enter a story
I ran into a dentist on vacation who told me that he wanted to become a writer but just didn’t know how to get started. “What can I write about, and how do you begin a story?” You tell stories … Continue reading
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Tagged coach, editing, grammar, Hal DeKeyser, journalism, language, Marybeth Miller, storyteller, Words, Writing
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