Friday, May 29, 2009

Another batch of flubs

Have fun with these five sentences. See if you can find the flubs that were caught before they made it into The Forum.

1. Moorhead police responded to 1015 36th Street South at 10:13 p.m. Thursday night.

2. Everyone who attended the press conference wore buttons promoting the referendum.

3. Commission Chair Jerry Waller said Overbo was up front about his arrest.

4. The Jensens bought out Prairie Public in the late 1980's.

5. Precipitation totals were at the top five percent of historical averages.

1. Moorhead police responded to 1015 36th St. S. at 10:13 p.m. Thursday.
AP Stylebook states: Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues.
All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out. Capitalize them when part of a formal name without a number; lowercase when used alone or with two or more names.
Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 562 W. 43rd St., 600 K St. NW. Do not abbreviate if the number is omitted: East 42nd Street, West 43rd Street, K Street Northwest. No periods in quadrant abbreviations – NW, SE – unless customary locally.
It's redundant to write 10:13 p.m. Thursday night.

2. Everyone who attended the news conference wore buttons promoting the referendum.
AP Stylebook states: press conference News conference is preferred.

3. Commission Chairman Jerry Waller said Overbo was upfront about his arrest.

4. The Jensens bought out Prairie Public in the late 1980s.
AP Stylebook states: years Use figures, without commas: 1975. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with a comma: Feb. 14, 1987, is the target date. Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1890s, the 1800s.

5. Precipitation totals were at the top 5 percent of historical averages.
AP Stylebook states: percent One word. It takes a singular verb when standing alone or when a singular word follows an of construction: The teacher said 60 percent was a failing grade. He said 50 percent of the membership was there.
It takes a plural verb when a plural word follows an of construction: He said 50 percent of the members were there.
Use figures for percent and percentages: 1 percent, 2.5 percent (use decimals, not fractions), 10 percent, 4 percentage points.
For a range, 12 to 15 percent, or between 12 and 15 percent.
For amounts less than 1 percent, precede the decimal with a zero: The cost of living rose 0.6 percent.

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