See if you can find the flubs in these five sentences that were found by copy editors before they appeared in the Forum.
1. Americans should watch for disagreements between Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration.
2. The intent is to honor the contributions of long-time local leaders in shaping and serving the Chamber, community and region.
3. Another multi-million dollar sports facility appears to be on the horizon for southwest Fargo.
4. A Fargo financial advisor faces new charges after the execution of a search warrant at his business.
5. The United States has the potential to create more than four million jobs in coming decades.
1. Americans should watch for disagreements between congressional Democrats and the Obama administration.
2. The intent is to honor the contributions of longtime local leaders in shaping and serving the chamber, community and region.
3. Another multimillion-dollar sports facility appears to be on the horizon for southwest Fargo.
4. A Fargo financial adviser faces new charges after the execution of a search warrant at his business.
AP Stylebook says: adviser Not advisor.
5. The United States has the potential to create more than 4 million jobs in coming decades.
AP Stylebook says: millions, billions Use figures with million or billion in all except casual uses: I’d like to make a billion dollars. But: The nation has 1 million citizens. I need $7 billion.
Do not go beyond two decimal places. 7.51 million people, $256 billion, 7,542,500 people, $2,565,750,000. Decimals are preferred where practical: 1.5 million. Not: 1 1/2 million.
Do not mix millions and billions in the same figure: 2.6 billion. Not: 2 billion 600 million.
Do not drop the word million or billion in the first figure of a range: He is worth from $2 million to $4 million. Not: $2 to $4 million, unless you really mean $2.
Note that a hyphen is not used to join the figures and the word million or billion, even in this type of phrase: The president submitted a $300 billion budget.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
From home schooling to geothermal
Here are five more examples of flubs that were caught by copy editors before they made it into The Forum. See if you can find them.
1. North Dakota home schoolers deal with some of the tougher regulations.
2. Jury selection is underway.
3. The Republican's goal is to become the U.S. Senator from North Dakota.
4. She was a communications supervisor for the Minnesota State Patrol in Rochester, Minn.
5. Geo-thermal is a huge issue now.
1. North Dakota home-schoolers deal with some of the tougher regulations.
AP style is: home schooling, home-schooled, home-schooler.
2. Jury selection is under way.
3. The Republican's goal is to become the U.S. senator from North Dakota.
4. She was a communications supervisor for the Minnesota State Patrol in Rochester.
5. Geothermal is a huge issue now.
1. North Dakota home schoolers deal with some of the tougher regulations.
2. Jury selection is underway.
3. The Republican's goal is to become the U.S. Senator from North Dakota.
4. She was a communications supervisor for the Minnesota State Patrol in Rochester, Minn.
5. Geo-thermal is a huge issue now.
1. North Dakota home-schoolers deal with some of the tougher regulations.
AP style is: home schooling, home-schooled, home-schooler.
2. Jury selection is under way.
3. The Republican's goal is to become the U.S. senator from North Dakota.
4. She was a communications supervisor for the Minnesota State Patrol in Rochester.
5. Geothermal is a huge issue now.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Five sentences for you to dissect
Writing tight is always a good thing, so I'm going to list five instead of 10 examples of style flubs with each post. Don't worry about me doing this because I'm running out of examples. I've got plenty. It means it won't take you as long to go through the examples and I'll be posting more frequently.
See if you can find the flubs in these sentences that were caught before they got into The Forum.
1. The former taxi driver was convicted of strangling two young women to death in 1968.
2. Kraft and his wife Sari are partners in the business with Sari's parents.
3. The human brain is not fully developed until people are between the ages of 18 to 23.
4. She is the new owner of the business at 702 University Drive North.
5. Voters are asked for their Zip Code, and the tool takes them to a list where they'll find their address.
1. The former taxi driver was convicted of strangling two young women in 1968.
The definition of strangle in Webster's New World Dictionary: to kill by squeezing the throat as with the hands, a noose, etc., so as to shut off the breath. It would be redundant to write "strangle to death."
2. Kraft and his wife, Sari, are partners in the business with Sari's parents.
Setting the wife's name off with commas lets reader know for sure that Sari is Kraft's only wife.
3. The human brain is not fully developed until people are between the ages of 18 and 23.
4. She is the new owner of the business at 702 N. University Drive.
5. Voters are asked for their ZIP code, and the tool takes them to a list where they'll find their address.
AP Stylebook says: ZIP code Use all-caps ZIP for Zoning Improvement Plan, but always lowercase the word code. Run the five digits together without a comma, and do not put a comma between the state name and the ZIP code: New York, NY 10020.
See if you can find the flubs in these sentences that were caught before they got into The Forum.
1. The former taxi driver was convicted of strangling two young women to death in 1968.
2. Kraft and his wife Sari are partners in the business with Sari's parents.
3. The human brain is not fully developed until people are between the ages of 18 to 23.
4. She is the new owner of the business at 702 University Drive North.
5. Voters are asked for their Zip Code, and the tool takes them to a list where they'll find their address.
1. The former taxi driver was convicted of strangling two young women in 1968.
The definition of strangle in Webster's New World Dictionary: to kill by squeezing the throat as with the hands, a noose, etc., so as to shut off the breath. It would be redundant to write "strangle to death."
2. Kraft and his wife, Sari, are partners in the business with Sari's parents.
Setting the wife's name off with commas lets reader know for sure that Sari is Kraft's only wife.
3. The human brain is not fully developed until people are between the ages of 18 and 23.
4. She is the new owner of the business at 702 N. University Drive.
5. Voters are asked for their ZIP code, and the tool takes them to a list where they'll find their address.
AP Stylebook says: ZIP code Use all-caps ZIP for Zoning Improvement Plan, but always lowercase the word code. Run the five digits together without a comma, and do not put a comma between the state name and the ZIP code: New York, NY 10020.
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