187 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
187 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
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about-us
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style-book
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1435292
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-----
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# Telegraph style book: grammar and syntax
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12:01AM GMT 19 Feb 2008
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**Tenses**. Whenever we are reporting something that has already happened we
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use the past tense. This includes official reports, surveys and studies.
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* [Telegraph Style Book: introduction][1]
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Having so started we must adhere to that style. "The report said that if
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nothing was done, things would get worse" NOT "The report said that if nothing
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is done, things will get worse".
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Similarly, in reported speech we should use "had" instead of "has" as in "but
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nothing had been done".
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If the report is published today (i.e. the day of publication) we should say
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"the report says that if nothing is done, things will get worse" etc.
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Switching tenses in a story is confusing and sloppy.
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**May and might** May is the present and future tense: might is the imperfect,
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perfect and pluperfect, so use in reported speech. I may go: he said he might
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go. "He may have been on the plane that crashed" means he could be missing:
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"He might have been on the plane that crashed" means that chance intervened
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and he wasn't.
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## Related Articles
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* [Introduction][2]
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10 Jan 2008
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**Moods** Contrary to popular belief, the subjunctive has not died completely,
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and some surviving usages would adorn not only feature writing but also some
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news reports. The mood was historically used with verbs of volition and
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command ("he ordered that he be brought in" and "she wishes she were at home")
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and with conditional clauses ("He agreed provided he be not quoted"), and it
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is not incorrect to use them today.
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Americans make a fetish of them. Note that the imperfect of the subjunctive
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"were" is "was", so you would write "she wished she was at home". Usages like
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"I order that he come" are perhaps a little rarefied for modern times: use
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this mood only when it seems natural.
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**Hyphens**. These are frequently misused. See A-Z for a guide but a rough and
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ready test is to speak the words. Where hyphens are used there is a quickening
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of pace. As an example: "He was a member of the middle class. _but _He belongs
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to a middle-class club." See A-Z for a full exposition of this subject.
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**Dashes** should not be used as routine replacement for commas, but they are
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useful to indicate the written equivalent of a change of tone in speech (The
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attack was unexpected - it came at noon instead of dawn - and the enemy
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outnumbered them).
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Dashes also help to avoid confusion by enclosing a series of words punctuated
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by commas. "Reporters face many problems - censorship, the pressure of time,
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shortage of space - when they work overseas."
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**That**.** **Make special note of the importance of the word "that", which
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the tabloids have all but removed from the English language in its role as a
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conjunction, as in: "He claimed the prize but he claimed that he was the
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winner."
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This applies to all those words like "propose", "recommend", "suggest" etc.
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Taking the "that" out makes the reader stumble over the sense. It is not
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needed after the verb "said". (See also "that" in A-Z section). "That" as a
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relative pronoun, and its correct usage in relation to "which" is dealt with
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in the A-Z section too.
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**Adjectives** other than the purely and basically descriptive have little
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place in news stories, and little more (other than occasionally for comic or
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ironic effect) in feature writing. Highly adjectival writing is a mainstay of
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tabloid journalism.
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The word "partner", when used to denote an unmarried cohabitee, is to be
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avoided unless absolutely necessary. Use girlfriend, boyfriend, companion,
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lover, mistress, concubine, friend or any other apposite word. See also banned
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words and phrases in the A-Z section.
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**Collective nouns**.These are usually singular, but there are many reasons
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not to impose a rigid rule. Sport provides many examples (England were all out
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for 50). Let common sense rule (The Government was in trouble; the Cabinet
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took their places in a sombre mood). Aim for consistency in similar references
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throughout a story, but this does not mean that different collective nouns
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cannot be treated in different ways within a story.
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**Commas** impede the flow of a sentence, but omitting them may change its
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meaning. Omitting the commas in "The minister's wife Mary was there" suggests
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polygamy. If he has only one wife, make it "The minister's wife, Mary, was
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there."
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Commas are needed before "and", "but" and "for" in compound sentences, unless
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the clauses they precede are very short (John was hungry, but his hostess
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insisted on reading a book before cooking lunch. He ate but his wife fasted).
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Commas are used between pairs or series of adjectives, but should be dropped
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if the words cannot properly be joined by "and" (A cold, grey dawn greeted the
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awakening old prisoner).
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**Semicolons**. Among its uses is to replace possibly misleading commas in
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lists of names accompanied by descriptions (The meeting was attended by Smith,
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Home Secretary; Lord North, the expert on the United States; John Brown, an
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American opposed to slavery; and Joseph Smith, an expert on baths).
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[X][3] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][4]
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* Share: [Share][3] [ ][5] [ ][6]
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[Tweet][7]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/1435292/Telegraph-style-
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book-grammar-and-syntax.html
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Telegraph
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## [Style Book][8]
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* ### [News »][9]
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[X][3] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][4]
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Share:
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* [ ][3]
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][6]
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* [Tweet][7]
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* Advertisement
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![][10]
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Advertisement
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][11]
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### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][12]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][13]][12]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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on the black American experience.
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### [Beekeeping diary: the new colonies arrive][14]
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### [Spectacular light show dazzles Sydney][15]
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### [WS Gilbert: a knight for our times][16]
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### [The Telegraph's Matt is Hay Festival star][17]
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Advertisement
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* [Motoring][20]
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