Journalism 2 Key to Grammar-And-Style Quiz
JOURNALISM 2 • KEY TO GRAMMAR-AND-STYLE QUIZ
Part One: Grammar for journalists (50 points maximum)
Each of the following sentences contains one grammatical error or example of poor usage. Please edit the sentences accordingly. Do not concern yourself with AP style; each sentence is already correct. You will not need to recast any of the the sentences in its entirety. In some cases there may be more than one way to fix the sentence.
1. ACity Hall officialannounced yesterday that it will close for the religious holidays of Passover, Ramadan and Christmas.
Personification: City Hall can’t announce anything. Only a person can. That’s all you needed to fix, although the sentence would have been improved if you had changed “it will close” to, say, “the building will close.”
2. The state Legislature is meeting next Thursday so that they it may consider Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposed budget.
Singular-plural agreement: Legislature is singular.
3. Police last night arrested Duncan F. Gillespie, 39, Duncan F. Gillespie, 39, was arrested last night and charged him with drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Passive voice: You all had a lot of trouble with this. Please watch this carefully in your own writing.
4. Now that itsit’slate March, the sky stays bright later in the day than it did in December.
An its/it’s quandry: “Its” is the possessive form of “it.” “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.”
5. Gloria Viera and her husband, Paul, appeared before the Planning Board last night to seek a special permit to build a nuclear-waste-disposal facility in their back yard.
Essential/nonessential phrases: “Paul” is a nonessential phrase because you are not telling the reader which of Gloria Viera’s several husbands you’re referring to. We know she only has one, and you are simply telling the reader what his name is. Essential phrases are not set off with commas; nonessential phrases are always set off with commas. Again, see pp. 86-88 in the AP Stylebook.
6. An accomplished pianist, theThe Millville Music Association will present Gladys McKinsley, an accomplished pianist, in concert this Saturday at 8 p.m.
Dangling modifier: Nearly all of you did well with this. As constructed, “An accomplished pianist” modifies “the Millville Music Association,” which will not do. I’ve indicated just one of the ways you could fix it.
7. Mozart wrote the concerto whichthatwill close McKinsley’s concert to commemorate the 21st birthday of the Austrian emperor.
Essential/nonessential clause: This can be either; as it stands, it’s neither. I’ve changed it to an essential clause, but changing it to a nonessential clause (which, with commas) would also be correct.
8. The Board of Bar Overseers will hold theirits annual meeting this Thursday to consider changes to the organization’s bylaws.
Antecedents, singular/plural agreement. “Board of Bar Overseers” is singular, even though “overseers” is plural, because “of Overseers” modifies the singular “Board.”
9. Firefighters drove to the boy’s house and returned the dog to it’sits rightful owner.
Another it’s/its quandry: You want the possessive, which does not take an apostrophe.
10. The man to whowhomthe letter was addressed claimed he had no idea why he had been singled out for such abuse.
Who/whom: A gimme.
Part Two: AP style (25 points maximum)
Each of the following sentences contains two violations of AP style. As with Part One, you will not need to recast the sentence in its entirety — just fix the AP style problems.
Go over the short guide to AP style at the back of your textbook, and all will become clear.
11. Controversy over the ethical practices of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas,(R-TX) may lead to his losing his position this November. Political affiliations are set off with commas, not parentheses. Texas is one of several states whose name is never abbreviated. And when we do abbreviate, we use the old-fashioned abbreviations, not postal abbreviations. AP, p. 234.
12. The twelve-year-old12-year-oldgirl told police that she was waiting in line for ice cream when the Toyota sedan struck the fire hydrant at Main and Centre Sts.streets.
13. In a sign of how difficult it is for independent political campaigns to succeed, the Democratic and Republican Parties parties received 98%percent of the vote in the most recent election.
14. The President presidenttoday proposed $55 billion dollars in new spending on homeland security.
15. On NovemberNov. 18, the delegation will travel from Manchester, N.H., to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is one of a number of cities in the United States and around the world that never needs a state after it. AP, p. 66.
Part Three: Writing ledes (25 points maximum)
Write a summary lede of no more than 30 words for the following story. You will not be able to include all of the information that is provided here — only the most important. Watch your attribution. Type it up (be sure to include your name) and print it out.
By far the biggest problem you had was with attribution, which surprised me. There’s no great secret to these, and your ledes could be written in a variety of ways. But you can’t say that someone committed a crime without proper attribution (unless he’s been convicted), and you certainly shouldn’t use public-relations superlatives without attributing them. Here are my two attempts.
16. Police said a 43-year-old local man has confessed to breaking into some 300 homes over the past year, piling up about $10,000 in rings, watches, coins and other items. (29 words)
Mark Johnsen of 2463 Pioneer Road was arrested last night while leaving a house carrying a VCR and jewelry, said Detective Karen Sweers, who described the suspect as “a career criminal.”(How I would continue)
17. SALEM, Mass. — Officials at two hospitals have announced plans to expand on the North Shore. (11 words)
North Shore Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital will jointly build an ambulatory-care center and a medical office building off Route 128, according to a statement issued by both institutions. The two buildings will comprise 165,000 square feet.
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J2 QUIZ KEY • page 1 of 3