Exam 5: Basics of Writing and Editing

Of course, since you can't please everyone all the time, if members of your audience feel excluded or offended, well, that's their problem, not yours.

Politeness and tradition have not gone out of style. Thus, writers in public media should be deferential to women.

Contractions are appropriate for both formal and informal writing and are particularly useful in making straight news stories and print news releases more conversational and readable.

Use double pronouns sparingly, and only when you want to draw attention to the inclusiveness.

He or his is still used as the pronoun when referring to groups that include both men and women.

Active voice: the action is being done to the subject; passive voice: the subject is doing the action.

Obeying the basic rules of writing guarantees good writing.

The Fog Index:

Writing is most powerful when it interprets the situation for the reader, rather than when it demonstrates a fact and invites the reader to draw a conclusion.

Effective writers use analogies-comparisons in which imagery or familiar terms are used to explain unfamiliar concepts-to help their readers understand something new or complicated.

Effective writers have a passion for words. As a media writer, your aim is to weave words into a pattern of ideas to inform, motivate and persuade.

Choose the correct form:

Since women are still underrepresented in the professions, it is acceptable to use phrases such as a female attorney or a woman doctor, even though you would not do so for a male counterpart.

Writers communicate clearly with audiences by following the principles of syntax, the branch of grammar dealing with the arrangement and relationship of words in sentences.

The greatest strength a writer has is the ability to share meaning and communicate so that readers accurately understand.

A singular noun takes a plural verb, and a plural noun takes a singular verb.

Eliminate unnecessary words and don't let empty phrases take up space in your writing.

In journalism, precision is very important. Thus, effective and ethical writers choose the word that provides the most accurate situational nuance.

One difference between broadcast and print writing is that broadcasting uses fairly simple punctuation, while print makes greater use of dashes, parentheses, semicolons, colons and exclamation points.

Meaning can and must be conveyed without writing over the head of readers.