Tag Archives: style guides

Timewise, I’m motivated to embus
(and other frowned-upon words)

By Julie Starr | Published: November 14, 2008
Every now and then newsrooms receive edicts banning overused phrases and ungainly words. The use of access and impact as verbs springs to mind - something we were on constant guard against on the Business pages of the Daily Telegraph when I was there a few years ago. Apparently, this is nothing new. The NZ Herald in its 1966 Manual of Journalism exhorted its writers thus: "In recent years, without making them pass any sort of entrance examination, we seem to have admitted dozens of words which usually have little excuse for appearing in a newspaper. Some examples: 'Few air services operated yesterday because of fog.' Why not: 'Fog stopped most air services yesterday.'
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When to beg the question, and when not to

By Julie Starr | Published: October 7, 2008
Phrases and terms have a way of getting mangled over time and it can be hard finding clear examples of what is and isn't right. Philip Corbett, a deputy news editor at the New York Times who's in charge of its style manual, does a fine job explaining how to use 'beg the question'.
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Modesty Blaise, split infinitives and style guides

By Julie Starr | Published: April 25, 2008
It's not every day you find a joke about split infinitives in the opening sentences of a novel. But Peter O'Donnell provided just that when he transformed Modesty Blaise (think Emma Peel combined with Lara Croft) from a cartoon character into a full-flesh master criminal turned special agent extraordinaire in the opening book of a series.
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LA Times launches Readers’ Representative blog

By Julie Starr | Published: December 7, 2007
The LA Times has launched a Readers' Representative blog which responds to readers' questions about how it covers stories and why - both on a general level and on specific stories.
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