155 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
155 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
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about-us
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style-book
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simon-heffers-style-notes
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6008811
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-----
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# Style notes 23: August 3 2009
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9:47AM BST 11 Aug 2009
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Dear Colleagues
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An observation from a reader last week raised an interesting point about our
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news coverage. One day we had a rash of stories that included the word "could"
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in the opening sentence. The reader observed that if so much about all these
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stories was conditional it raised a question about why we were running them at
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all. Sometimes use of the conditional is essential; but please try to restrict
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it. News stories should aim to tell readers what has happened or what is going
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to happen; speculation has its place, but should not be routine.
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We have much cause at the moment to write about military matters. It must be
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emphasised that special care must be taken to ensure that facts are accurate.
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Our readers include many people who have served in the Armed Forces and are
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precise in their understanding of nomenclature, whether of ranks, regiments,
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ships or squadrons, and of details of equipment. Extra special care must be
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taken when writing about those killed in action, as the sensitivities of the
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situation are self-evident. We caused offence inadvertently when reporting, at
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the time of the death of Lt Col Thorneloe, that he was the most senior officer
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killed since Lt Col "H" Jones. He was in fact the most senior Army officer
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killed in action since then: Wing Commander Nigel Elsdon, equivalent in rank
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to a Lt Col, was killed in Iraq in January 1991, and Wg Cdr John Coxen was
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killed in Basra in May 2006.
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The unpleasant phrase "fell pregnant" popped up a couple of weeks ago, one
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hopes for the last time. Prestigious does not mean what you think it does, so
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please avoid it. One condoles with somebody: the preposition is essential. In
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some sports reporting online we perpetrated the unforgivable verbs "podiuming"
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and "medalling", which are not even tabloid usages. They are banned. We wrote
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of a sportsman who was being urged to "commit for all games". Commit what? The
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verb requires an object. We continue to confuse debtors and creditors. The
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former owe money; the latter are owed it. The phrase "for free" is not proper
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English. Something is "free of charge". A chef has specialities; a consultant
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surgeon has a specialty. We compare something with something else, not to it.
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Sarah Brown is never to be referred to as this country's "first lady". Were we
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to have that term in English usage, it would refer to Her Majesty the Queen.
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Mrs Brown is merely the wife of the Prime Minister. Sarajevo is not the
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capital of Serbia. In America, the DEA is the Drug Enforcement Administration,
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not Agency. The first moon landings were neither in June 1969 nor July 1967,
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as we variously reported, but in July 1969. During Wimbledon we wrote that
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"Scot Andy Murray will be only the third Englishman to reach the Wimbledon
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final if he wins his semi final". Leaving aside the ethnic confusion, the
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conditional sentence required "would" rather than "will".
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We are still embarrassing ourselves with homophones. Recently we have had the
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passed week, the Karma Sutra, Marshall (as a military rank it has only one
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"l"), wreckless, sort after, draft beer, and pleas instead of please. The
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differences between principle and principal, and practice and practise,
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continue to confuse: a consultation of the style book should end the
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confusion. We have also had two perplexing literals - "the prefect pizza" and,
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in an online headline, "royality". Please read your work before you publish it
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online, or send it on to production journalists. If you are handling agency
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copy, please be alert that this is occasionally poorly written, non-style
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compliant, poorly punctuated and has been known to contain factual errors. It
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is the responsibility of those publishing this copy to the web or sending it
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to production journalists to ensure that it is correct before doing so.
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Finally, a reminder that updates to the style book can be found on our web
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page on the internet.
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_With best wishes. _
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_Simon Heffer _
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_Associate Editor _
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_The Daily Telegraph _
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/simon-heffers-style-
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notes/6008811/Style-notes-23-August-3-2009.html
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Telegraph
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## [Simon Heffer's Style Notes][6]
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[What are these?][2]
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Share:
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* [ ][1]
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* [ ][3]
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* [ ][4]
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* [Tweet][5]
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* Advertisement
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