Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Let's get jump-started by midafternoon

I know if you're one of the Forum reporters reading this blog, you're anxious to find out if you made the spotlight. See if you can find the flubs in these sentences that were caught before they made it into The Forum.

1. He served in the army more than 40 years ago.

2. A spokesperson for the committee said experienced musicians were involved in the show.

3. About 20 vehicles were jumpstarted by mid-afternoon.

4. Pacific Sound installs home theatres and stereos.

5. "This is really a multi-purpose facility."

1. He served in the Army more than 40 years ago.
AP Stylebook states: army Capitalize when referring to U.S. forces: the U.S. Army, the Army, Army regulations. Do not use the abbreviation USA. Use lowercase for the forces of other nations: the French army. This approach has been adopted for consistency, because many foreign nations do not use army as the proper name.

2. A spokesman/spokeswoman for the committee said experienced musicians were involved in the show.
AP Stylebook states: spokesman, spokeswoman But not spokesperson. Use a representative if you do not know the sex of the individual.

3. About 20 vehicles were jump-started by midafternoon.
AP Stylebook states: mid- No hyphen unless a capitalized word follows: mid-America, midsemester, mid-Atlantic, midterm. But use a hyphen when mid- precedes a figure: mid-30s.

4. Pacific Sound installs home theaters and stereos.
AP Stylebook states: theater Use this spelling unless the proper name is Theatre: Shubert Theatre.

5. "This is really a multipurpose facility."
AP Stylebook states: multi- The rules in prefixes apply, but in general, no hyphen. Some examples: multicolored, multimillion, multilateral, multimillionaire.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

From breast-feeding to halfway houses

Fine the flubs in these sentences that were caught before they made their way into The Forum.

1. She won the award for her tireless efforts promoting breastfeeding.

2. The new headquarters will use 17,000-square-feet in an existing building.

3. Engineering fees are estimated to run about $423,000.

4. He has spent 6-plus months in a half-way house.

5. She was surprised nobody had launched a coop locally.

1. She won the award for her tireless efforts promoting breast-feeding.
AP Stylebook states: breast-feed, breast-feeding, breast-fed

2. The new headquarters will use 17,000 square feet in an existing building.

3. Engineering fees are estimated to be $423,000.
"Estimated" and "to run about" are redundant.

4. He has spent six-plus months in a halfway house.

5. She was surprised nobody had launched a co-op locally.