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6008811
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# Style notes 23: August 3 2009
9:47AM BST 11 Aug 2009
Dear Colleagues
An observation from a reader last week raised an interesting point about our
news coverage. One day we had a rash of stories that included the word "could"
in the opening sentence. The reader observed that if so much about all these
stories was conditional it raised a question about why we were running them at
all. Sometimes use of the conditional is essential; but please try to restrict
it. News stories should aim to tell readers what has happened or what is going
to happen; speculation has its place, but should not be routine.
We have much cause at the moment to write about military matters. It must be
emphasised that special care must be taken to ensure that facts are accurate.
Our readers include many people who have served in the Armed Forces and are
precise in their understanding of nomenclature, whether of ranks, regiments,
ships or squadrons, and of details of equipment. Extra special care must be
taken when writing about those killed in action, as the sensitivities of the
situation are self-evident. We caused offence inadvertently when reporting, at
the time of the death of Lt Col Thorneloe, that he was the most senior officer
killed since Lt Col "H" Jones. He was in fact the most senior Army officer
killed in action since then: Wing Commander Nigel Elsdon, equivalent in rank
to a Lt Col, was killed in Iraq in January 1991, and Wg Cdr John Coxen was
killed in Basra in May 2006.
The unpleasant phrase "fell pregnant" popped up a couple of weeks ago, one
hopes for the last time. Prestigious does not mean what you think it does, so
please avoid it. One condoles with somebody: the preposition is essential. In
some sports reporting online we perpetrated the unforgivable verbs "podiuming"
and "medalling", which are not even tabloid usages. They are banned. We wrote
of a sportsman who was being urged to "commit for all games". Commit what? The
verb requires an object. We continue to confuse debtors and creditors. The
former owe money; the latter are owed it. The phrase "for free" is not proper
English. Something is "free of charge". A chef has specialities; a consultant
surgeon has a specialty. We compare something with something else, not to it.
Sarah Brown is never to be referred to as this country's "first lady". Were we
to have that term in English usage, it would refer to Her Majesty the Queen.
Mrs Brown is merely the wife of the Prime Minister. Sarajevo is not the
capital of Serbia. In America, the DEA is the Drug Enforcement Administration,
not Agency. The first moon landings were neither in June 1969 nor July 1967,
as we variously reported, but in July 1969. During Wimbledon we wrote that
"Scot Andy Murray will be only the third Englishman to reach the Wimbledon
final if he wins his semi final". Leaving aside the ethnic confusion, the
conditional sentence required "would" rather than "will".
We are still embarrassing ourselves with homophones. Recently we have had the
passed week, the Karma Sutra, Marshall (as a military rank it has only one
"l"), wreckless, sort after, draft beer, and pleas instead of please. The
differences between principle and principal, and practice and practise,
continue to confuse: a consultation of the style book should end the
confusion. We have also had two perplexing literals - "the prefect pizza" and,
in an online headline, "royality". Please read your work before you publish it
online, or send it on to production journalists. If you are handling agency
copy, please be alert that this is occasionally poorly written, non-style
compliant, poorly punctuated and has been known to contain factual errors. It
is the responsibility of those publishing this copy to the web or sending it
to production journalists to ensure that it is correct before doing so.
Finally, a reminder that updates to the style book can be found on our web
page on the internet.
_With best wishes. _
_Simon Heffer _
_Associate Editor _
_The Daily Telegraph _
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