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.

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