134 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
134 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
|
|
about-us
|
|
style-book
|
|
simon-heffers-style-notes
|
|
5061667
|
|
-----
|
|
# Style notes 17: March 25 2009
|
|
|
|
3:45PM GMT 27 Mar 2009
|
|
|
|
Dear Colleagues
|
|
|
|
We are still having trouble with homophones, so I reiterate my point about
|
|
reading back copy before you file it. The latest crop includes it's and its,
|
|
there and their, currant and current, affect and effect, advise and advice,
|
|
bare and bear, duel and dual, ensure and insure. The actor Alan Alda became
|
|
Alan Alder. There was also a confusion between prostate and prostrate, which
|
|
was unfortunate, as was "Anglican" for "Anglian".
|
|
|
|
The style guide specifies that a person's name should appear before the
|
|
description of his or her job or position. So it should be (for example)
|
|
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, not Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This error
|
|
is becoming quite common.
|
|
|
|
On grammatical matters, we are still not clear of the difference between "may"
|
|
and "might", though the style book explains what this is. The difference
|
|
between "the boy might still be alive" and "the boy may still be alive" should
|
|
be clear. It is necessary that the subjects of clauses agree with each other:
|
|
we recently wrote "the day before he died, David Cameron and his wife…." when
|
|
the "he" referred, of course, to Mr and Mrs Cameron's late son. In phrases
|
|
such as "he ran like he had the wind behind him", it should be "he ran as if
|
|
he had the wind behind him". It is never "fed up of", but "fed up with". Also,
|
|
take care with apostrophes: we recently wrote "childrens'" rather than
|
|
"children's", and put an apostrophe in a plural. And the distinction between
|
|
"who" and "whom" is important.
|
|
|
|
There have been some factual errors that we ought to take note of. Verbier is
|
|
in Switzerland. The London Oratory is a Roman Catholic school. Salford is in
|
|
the North West. In Afghanistan, Apache helicopters are operated by the Army
|
|
Air Corps. The Nazis occupied Poland during the Second World War. The
|
|
Cambridge college is Magdalene; the Oxford one Magdalen. When writing about
|
|
members of the Armed Forces be especially careful to get their ranks and units
|
|
correct. We recently gave the wrong rank to an airman who had been killed in
|
|
action, which caused distress to his family.
|
|
|
|
When writing sports copy and citing something as being a record, or without
|
|
recent precedent, please be sure of the facts. The readers are exceptionally
|
|
hot on this.
|
|
|
|
With best wishes
|
|
|
|
Simon Heffer
|
|
|
|
Associate Editor
|
|
|
|
The Daily Telegraph
|
|
|
|
[X][1] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][2]
|
|
|
|
* Share: [Share][1] [ ][3] [ ][4]
|
|
|
|
[Tweet][5]
|
|
|
|
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/simon-heffers-style-
|
|
notes/5061667/Style-notes-17-March-25-2009.html
|
|
|
|
Telegraph
|
|
|
|
## [Simon Heffer's Style Notes][6]
|
|
|
|
[X][1] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][2]
|
|
|
|
Share:
|
|
|
|
* [ ][1]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][3]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][4]
|
|
|
|
* [Tweet][5]
|
|
|
|
* Advertisement
|
|
|
|
![][7]
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][8]
|
|
|
|
### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][9]
|
|
|
|
[![Gil Scott-Heron][10]][9]
|
|
|
|
Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
|
|
on the black American experience.
|
|
|
|
### [Beekeeping diary: the new colonies arrive][11]
|
|
|
|
### [Spectacular light show dazzles Sydney][12]
|
|
|
|
### [WS Gilbert: a knight for our times][13]
|
|
|
|
### [The Telegraph's Matt is Hay Festival star][14]
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Classified Advertising
|
|
|
|
* [Services][15]
|
|
|
|
* [Property][16]
|
|
|
|
* [Motoring][17]
|
|
|
|
Loading
|
|
|
|
[Find your ideal job with Telegraph Jobs][18]
|
|
|
|
var puffs_8120657 = new Array();
|
|
|