NEWS ENGLISH: Dành cho những người làm báo Anh ngữ

NEWS ENGLISH: Dành cho những người làm báo Anh ngữ

Topic này sẽ tổng hợp những tài liệu về báo chí tiếng Anh, dành cho những bạn làm báo bằng tiếng Anh (ví dụ Vietnam News) hoặc những bạn làm công tác dịch thuật cho các tờ báo.

Rất mong sự cộng tác của tất cả các bạn.

Tài liệu dưới đây hơi ABC một tí nhưng cũng tóm lược được một vài thông tin cơ bản về cách viết tin bằng tiếng Anh.
NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
What is News?
There are many definitions of news, some more useful than others. Basically, news is new, published information which is of interestto people or which will affect them, now or in the future. The key point in this definition is that information is not news until it is published. Publication in the sense meant here can be as simple astelling your neighbour what happened yesterday, or as complex as a television story transmitted via asatellite from, say, New York to Sydney and then via another satellite to Perth and our television screens.
The successful transmission or publication of news, particularly in print, depends on the reporter''''s ability to translate it into clear "News English". NewsEnglish is among the most widely readand distinct forms of written communication. It has a style and structure as unique and exacting as those of the novel, poem or play. Students should not make the mistake of considering news writing less important than other forms of writing because of itsrelative impermanence and the speed at which it must be wrriten.
A well-structured news story should place the most important information in a concise and interesting opening paragraph. This paragraph is called "the intro". And the article should be structured so that the paragraphs flow into each other to draw the reader through the story. One of the greatest skills of news writing is to be able to produce this continuity and at the same time allow several possible end points (or exits) so the story can be cut if necessary. In Journalism for Beginners, Hestia Quinn explains the practical reasons behind the emphasis on the opening paragraph and the eed for several endlings within one story:
It (the opening paragraph) brings news in a capsuled form to the reader who is skimming the paper, but more importantly it is a necessity in the production of the paper. Newspapers have a constant flow of news of varying importance to be accommodated in a prescribed space. If an important iten arrives, space can be found by cutting out those "extra" paragraphs on news of lesser interest.
The opening paragraph allows for the quick transmission of news to the reader, and the many possible endlings allow for the story to be cut without the need for a complete rewrite. Nevertheless, the paragraphs at the bottom of a news story still require the same attention to construction as the opening, despite the fact that they may never be published.
News English
Opinions vary widely on what is good journalism, but there are some generally recognised requirements for good reporting. They are:
ACCURACY
BREVITY
CLARITY
IMPARTIALITY
This section will deal mainly with the first three (knowm as ABC). But before looking at them, let us look at news.
Referring back to our previous definition, the partwhich concerns us now, is that word published. The information must be read or heard before it becomes news. And before it can be read oe heard it must be wriiten. To ensure that news is brief, clear and accurate, certan rules, styles and tra***ions have evolved over the years. These makes News English distinct from other wrtten forms. Some of the things which characterise News English include:
- The size and construction of sentences and paragraphs.
- The use of indirect speech to paraphrase direct quotes.
- Preference for the active rather than the passive voice.
- How the story is told. News has a narrative structure different from other story-telling style.
But thereare also many elements of News English which are common to all good, clear writing. These include: correct use of commas, subordinate clauses, infinitives, singular and plural, adjectival hyphens (and the careful use of adjectives themselves), and the avoidance of jargon, clichés and ambiguity.
Don''''t, however, let all this put you off. Journalism can be great fun and bring great rewards. Enjoy it. One wat to do so is to learn the rules thoroughly, understand why the rules, conventions and tra***ions are there and if you can show good reason why a rule or convention should be broken - then break it. Don''''t lose sight, though, of the fact that you are always writing for a readership and unless that readership understands clearly what you are saying, then you have failed in your jobs. Write simple, clearly and unambiguously.
News must generally be written in a hurry to meet tight dealines, so journalists at a paper, radio or television station follow a style which sets out, for example: how words should be spelt when there are alternative spellings, how titles should be written, prefered usages, and banned words, etc. Following the style speeds up the publishing process. The style varies from one publishing house to another, each of which has its own house style.
Được katjusha sửa chữa / chuyển vào 19:50 ngày 20/06/2004

Tài liệu dưới đây hơi ABC một tí nhưng cũng tóm lược được một vài thông tin cơ bản về cách viết tin bằng tiếng Anh.
NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
What is News?
There are many definitions of news, some more useful than others. Basically, news is new, published information which is of interestto people or which will affect them, now or in the future. The key point in this definition is that information is not news until it is published. Publication in the sense meant here can be as simple astelling your neighbour what happened yesterday, or as complex as a television story transmitted via asatellite from, say, New York to Sydney and then via another satellite to Perth and our television screens.
The successful transmission or publication of news, particularly in print, depends on the reporter''''s ability to translate it into clear "News English". NewsEnglish is among the most widely readand distinct forms of written communication. It has a style and structure as unique and exacting as those of the novel, poem or play. Students should not make the mistake of considering news writing less important than other forms of writing because of itsrelative impermanence and the speed at which it must be wrriten.
A well-structured news story should place the most important information in a concise and interesting opening paragraph. This paragraph is called "the intro". And the article should be structured so that the paragraphs flow into each other to draw the reader through the story. One of the greatest skills of news writing is to be able to produce this continuity and at the same time allow several possible end points (or exits) so the story can be cut if necessary. In Journalism for Beginners, Hestia Quinn explains the practical reasons behind the emphasis on the opening paragraph and the eed for several endlings within one story:
It (the opening paragraph) brings news in a capsuled form to the reader who is skimming the paper, but more importantly it is a necessity in the production of the paper. Newspapers have a constant flow of news of varying importance to be accommodated in a prescribed space. If an important iten arrives, space can be found by cutting out those "extra" paragraphs on news of lesser interest.
The opening paragraph allows for the quick transmission of news to the reader, and the many possible endlings allow for the story to be cut without the need for a complete rewrite. Nevertheless, the paragraphs at the bottom of a news story still require the same attention to construction as the opening, despite the fact that they may never be published.
News English
Opinions vary widely on what is good journalism, but there are some generally recognised requirements for good reporting. They are:
ACCURACY
BREVITY
CLARITY
IMPARTIALITY
This section will deal mainly with the first three (knowm as ABC). But before looking at them, let us look at news.
Referring back to our previous definition, the partwhich concerns us now, is that word published. The information must be read or heard before it becomes news. And before it can be read oe heard it must be wriiten. To ensure that news is brief, clear and accurate, certan rules, styles and tra***ions have evolved over the years. These makes News English distinct from other wrtten forms. Some of the things which characterise News English include:
- The size and construction of sentences and paragraphs.
- The use of indirect speech to paraphrase direct quotes.
- Preference for the active rather than the passive voice.
- How the story is told. News has a narrative structure different from other story-telling style.
But thereare also many elements of News English which are common to all good, clear writing. These include: correct use of commas, subordinate clauses, infinitives, singular and plural, adjectival hyphens (and the careful use of adjectives themselves), and the avoidance of jargon, clichés and ambiguity.
Don''''t, however, let all this put you off. Journalism can be great fun and bring great rewards. Enjoy it. One wat to do so is to learn the rules thoroughly, understand why the rules, conventions and tra***ions are there and if you can show good reason why a rule or convention should be broken - then break it. Don''''t lose sight, though, of the fact that you are always writing for a readership and unless that readership understands clearly what you are saying, then you have failed in your jobs. Write simple, clearly and unambiguously.
News must generally be written in a hurry to meet tight dealines, so journalists at a paper, radio or television station follow a style which sets out, for example: how words should be spelt when there are alternative spellings, how titles should be written, prefered usages, and banned words, etc. Following the style speeds up the publishing process. The style varies from one publishing house to another, each of which has its own house style.
Được katjusha sửa chữa / chuyển vào 19:50 ngày 20/06/2004

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)

SOME SPECIFICS
Intro
The first paragraph of a news story. It generally should not be greater than 25 words - it should also try to answer some of the key questions: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW. It is a "hook" to encourage readers to read on.
Paragraphs
News paragraphs areshorter than paragraphs in most other writing, often consisting of only one sentence. Paragraphs - or "pars", as they are known - are diliberately short and simple because the news story often must be cut to fit into a given space. Short paragraphs with only one idea can be deleted (cut) simply, without having to rewrite the story.
Sentences
Sentences have a subject, a verb and a predicate. Sentences are short, simple and active. To achive this, short words are preferred to long ones and active verbs are prefereed to passive verbs (active and passive verbs will be explained below).
Direct Speech
Direct speech is what a person actually said. It is contained within quotation marks and the quotes are attributed clearly to the speaker. When quoting we can contribute the quote after what is said, or before. Each has its uses.
Attribution after

"I am going to win," Player said.​

Note that we open the quote, record the comment, insert a comma before closing the quote, then say who said it. Note also that the newspapers generally prefer "said" to other possible words such as "exclaim", "retorted", "jeered", "emphasised", etc. Words other than "said" may introduce a bias, intentional or not.
Attribution before

Player said: "I am going to win."​

We use this form mostly when we are changing from one speaker to another, i.e., if Coach has been quoted derectly and we wished to move straight into Player''s reply, e.g.,

"My boy is fighting fit, he will win," Coach said.
"He will knock Player out in the first round."
However, Player said: "I am going to win."​

Note that when the attribution precedes the quote, the speaker and the verb "said" are separated from the quote by a colon. This is a common newspaper style and it the one required of you - even though it is not the only grammatically correct method. Note that the full point (full stop) is inside the end quoatation mark in this case. [If you were reading this over the phone to a newspaper copy taker, you would read it like this: New par However comma Player said colon open quotes I am going to win full point, close quotes.]
There should be one opening and one closing of quotes for each source:

"I deny it," he said.
"There is no truth in the allegation.
"The honourable member for X is lying."​

Note that quote marks begin each paragraph but that the quote is closed only when the speaker is finished.
Indirect or Reported Speech
Inddirect speech is used when we wished to convey what was said without necessarily using the exact words. This can be when the speaker is long-winded and we wish to condense his/her statements.Generally it is a way of reporting more concisely what was said.
There is a basic rule for converting direct speech to indirect speech: use the verb tense one step further toward the past from the tense actually used by the speaker, e.g.,

"I am going to win," said Player.​

becomes

Player said he was going to win.​

or

"My boy is fighting fit and will knock Player out in the first round," Coach said.​

becomes

Coach said his boy was fighting fit and would knock Player out in the first round.​

The indirect (or reported) speech becomes a thrid person account, or summary.

FIRST person is the one speaking.​

SECOND person is the one spoken to.​

THIRD person is the one spoken of.​

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)

SOME SPECIFICS
Intro
The first paragraph of a news story. It generally should not be greater than 25 words - it should also try to answer some of the key questions: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW. It is a "hook" to encourage readers to read on.
Paragraphs
News paragraphs areshorter than paragraphs in most other writing, often consisting of only one sentence. Paragraphs - or "pars", as they are known - are diliberately short and simple because the news story often must be cut to fit into a given space. Short paragraphs with only one idea can be deleted (cut) simply, without having to rewrite the story.
Sentences
Sentences have a subject, a verb and a predicate. Sentences are short, simple and active. To achive this, short words are preferred to long ones and active verbs are prefereed to passive verbs (active and passive verbs will be explained below).
Direct Speech
Direct speech is what a person actually said. It is contained within quotation marks and the quotes are attributed clearly to the speaker. When quoting we can contribute the quote after what is said, or before. Each has its uses.
Attribution after

"I am going to win," Player said.​

Note that we open the quote, record the comment, insert a comma before closing the quote, then say who said it. Note also that the newspapers generally prefer "said" to other possible words such as "exclaim", "retorted", "jeered", "emphasised", etc. Words other than "said" may introduce a bias, intentional or not.
Attribution before

Player said: "I am going to win."​

We use this form mostly when we are changing from one speaker to another, i.e., if Coach has been quoted derectly and we wished to move straight into Player''s reply, e.g.,

"My boy is fighting fit, he will win," Coach said.
"He will knock Player out in the first round."
However, Player said: "I am going to win."​

Note that when the attribution precedes the quote, the speaker and the verb "said" are separated from the quote by a colon. This is a common newspaper style and it the one required of you - even though it is not the only grammatically correct method. Note that the full point (full stop) is inside the end quoatation mark in this case. [If you were reading this over the phone to a newspaper copy taker, you would read it like this: New par However comma Player said colon open quotes I am going to win full point, close quotes.]
There should be one opening and one closing of quotes for each source:

"I deny it," he said.
"There is no truth in the allegation.
"The honourable member for X is lying."​

Note that quote marks begin each paragraph but that the quote is closed only when the speaker is finished.
Indirect or Reported Speech
Inddirect speech is used when we wished to convey what was said without necessarily using the exact words. This can be when the speaker is long-winded and we wish to condense his/her statements.Generally it is a way of reporting more concisely what was said.
There is a basic rule for converting direct speech to indirect speech: use the verb tense one step further toward the past from the tense actually used by the speaker, e.g.,

"I am going to win," said Player.​

becomes

Player said he was going to win.​

or

"My boy is fighting fit and will knock Player out in the first round," Coach said.​

becomes

Coach said his boy was fighting fit and would knock Player out in the first round.​

The indirect (or reported) speech becomes a thrid person account, or summary.

FIRST person is the one speaking.​

SECOND person is the one spoken to.​

THIRD person is the one spoken of.​

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)
Voice
Voice in grammar is a set of forms of a verb showing the relation of the subject to the action. The verd is in the active voice when the subject of the verb performs the action spoken of by the verb, e.g.,

He sang the song ("He" is the subject, did the singing.)​

The verb is in the passive voice whenthe subject of the verb suffers the action spoken of by the verb, e.g.,

The song was sung by him.​

Active
"The cat sat on the mat" is in the active voice. The subject (the cat) performs theaction (sitting) spoken of the the verb (sat).
Passive
Compare this with the passive voice:

"The mat was sat on by the cat."​

The subject (the mat) suffers the action (sitting) spoken of by the verb (was sat on). Note that passive verbs involve part of the verb "to be" as an auxiliary (as in "was sat on"). The passive voice serves to reverse the subject and object of the active sentence. A passive construction derives from a matching active construction in which its subjectwas the derect object. In "The cat sat on the mat", the subject is the cat and the object is the mat. The "The mat was sat on by the cat" the mat is the subject and the cat is the object. Sometimes this subject/object reversal may be done purposefully to emphasise a point such as in:

The (million-dollar) mat was sat on by the cat. ​

Story Structure
News English tells a story differently from other story-telling styles. A novel or shortstory might tell a person''''''''s life story in the order in which events happened, i.e., chronological order. A poem might tell a story through the use of metaphor (The wind was a scythe) or simile (My love is like a red, red rose). In many ways a typical construction for news tells the story back to front, in that the information is not presented in the chronological sequence in which the events being reported actually happened. It generally starts with the effect, but should start with the most interesting and most important information and end with the relatively unimportant. This structure is called the inverted pyramid because the bulk of the information is near the top and the tail end can be cut off without losing important details. There are other story structures, but the inverted pyramid is the most prevalent. Take the following information:
A car travelling west on Mounts Bay Road and a car travelling east collide. Both cars are badly damaged. Two people are badly hurt. Traffic is help up for an hour and a half whilr police, fire brigade and ambulance deal with the accident. The ambulance takes the unjured to Royal Perth Hospital but they are found dead on arrival.
That might be the order in which events happened but it is not how it will be reported in tomorrow''''''''s paper. Ask yourself what the main effect was. It was: two people died in the accident. And that is how the paper will report it.
Two people died as the result of a head-on crash on Mounts Bay Road last night.
Peter John Smith and John Peter Jones were taken to Royal Perth Hospital but were dead on arrival. The accident happened etc., etc.
Put the important facts first. Note also that the key questions: Who? What? When? Where? are answered in the first paragraphs. The question Why? may have to wait for an answer, or may never get an answer.
So, there are some special requirements for writing news - but there are also general rules of grammar which must be followed. Remember that the basic requirement of news writing is that it be written unambiguously in simple, grammatically correct language. Here area few hints. (to be continued)
Được katjusha sửa chữa / chuyển vào 12:51 ngày 21/06/2004

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)
Voice
Voice in grammar is a set of forms of a verb showing the relation of the subject to the action. The verd is in the active voice when the subject of the verb performs the action spoken of by the verb, e.g.,

He sang the song ("He" is the subject, did the singing.)​

The verb is in the passive voice whenthe subject of the verb suffers the action spoken of by the verb, e.g.,

The song was sung by him.​

Active
"The cat sat on the mat" is in the active voice. The subject (the cat) performs theaction (sitting) spoken of the the verb (sat).
Passive
Compare this with the passive voice:

"The mat was sat on by the cat."​

The subject (the mat) suffers the action (sitting) spoken of by the verb (was sat on). Note that passive verbs involve part of the verb "to be" as an auxiliary (as in "was sat on"). The passive voice serves to reverse the subject and object of the active sentence. A passive construction derives from a matching active construction in which its subjectwas the derect object. In "The cat sat on the mat", the subject is the cat and the object is the mat. The "The mat was sat on by the cat" the mat is the subject and the cat is the object. Sometimes this subject/object reversal may be done purposefully to emphasise a point such as in:

The (million-dollar) mat was sat on by the cat. ​

Story Structure
News English tells a story differently from other story-telling styles. A novel or shortstory might tell a person''''''''s life story in the order in which events happened, i.e., chronological order. A poem might tell a story through the use of metaphor (The wind was a scythe) or simile (My love is like a red, red rose). In many ways a typical construction for news tells the story back to front, in that the information is not presented in the chronological sequence in which the events being reported actually happened. It generally starts with the effect, but should start with the most interesting and most important information and end with the relatively unimportant. This structure is called the inverted pyramid because the bulk of the information is near the top and the tail end can be cut off without losing important details. There are other story structures, but the inverted pyramid is the most prevalent. Take the following information:
A car travelling west on Mounts Bay Road and a car travelling east collide. Both cars are badly damaged. Two people are badly hurt. Traffic is help up for an hour and a half whilr police, fire brigade and ambulance deal with the accident. The ambulance takes the unjured to Royal Perth Hospital but they are found dead on arrival.
That might be the order in which events happened but it is not how it will be reported in tomorrow''''''''s paper. Ask yourself what the main effect was. It was: two people died in the accident. And that is how the paper will report it.
Two people died as the result of a head-on crash on Mounts Bay Road last night.
Peter John Smith and John Peter Jones were taken to Royal Perth Hospital but were dead on arrival. The accident happened etc., etc.
Put the important facts first. Note also that the key questions: Who? What? When? Where? are answered in the first paragraphs. The question Why? may have to wait for an answer, or may never get an answer.
So, there are some special requirements for writing news - but there are also general rules of grammar which must be followed. Remember that the basic requirement of news writing is that it be written unambiguously in simple, grammatically correct language. Here area few hints. (to be continued)
Được katjusha sửa chữa / chuyển vào 12:51 ngày 21/06/2004

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)
Commas
Commas are perhaps the most misused of all grammartical devices. Few people know where they go. As a guide, try to write so that there are as few commas as possible. It is nearly always possible to rewrite a passage to avoid some, if not all, coomas. The comma marks short pause in logic, not pauses for preath in reading aloud, which is how many students understand its use. It can be used:

- In the place of "and" to separate serious of words of the same kind, e.g., The reporter should write clear, concise, accurate English.​

- Before and after (a) such phrases as "however", "for instance", "in fact", e.g., He said, however, he would not be in tomorrow. (b) alternatives e.g., His work was finer, more thorough, than Smith''s. ​

- To separate subordinate, non-defining, clauses, e.g., The lecturer, who was in his shirt sleeves, worked quickly. Here, the clause "who was in his shirt sleeves" can be removed from the sentence and what is left will still make sense - without commas (i.e. The lecturer worked quickly). A comma should not separate defining clauses, e.g.,
The lecturer who visited yesterday...​

In this case, the clause "who visited yesterday" defines which lecturer we are referring to. In the previous case we might have written:

The lecturer who was in shirt sleeves​

To define and distinguish fer/him from

The lecturer wearing a coat​

In both these exxamples the clauses are difining clauses.
Perhaps the most common mistake with commas comes when we use titles: e.g.
The Premier, John Smith, went on...This is correct because "John Smith" is a subordinate clause. The sentence would read perfectly sensibly without it. In effect, we are saying:

The Premier, (who is) John Smith,​

It would be incorrect to write:
Premier, John Smith, went on...
But correct to write:
Premier John Smith went on... (because "Premier Smith" is a aingle noun phrase, like Samuel Brown, General Jones, etc.)..
Apostrophes
Apostrophes have to uses:
- To denote a missing letter or letters as in

Do not = don''t; cannot = can''t; it is = it''s​

- To denote the genitive or possessive case

Jacob''s ladder; TTVNOL''s problem​

The apostrophe in these cases replaces prepositions such as "of", "from", e.g.: it was a problem emanating from TTVNOL. It was TTVNOL''s problem. One way to remember when and where to put apostrophes is to say, e.g., "Jacob (his) ladder", where the "hi" of "his" is replaced by the apostrophe, or "Curtin (its) problem", when the "it" of "its" is replaced by the apostrophe. The possessive pronoun "its" as in "its pawn", "its tail" does not take an apostrphe.
Infinitives
Such as: to be, to have, to hear, to do, etc.
Try not to split them, i.e., put a word between the two parts, such as in "to correctly make", "to bravely go", but don''t stick rigidly to the rule if the finished sentence sounds really awkward. Try to remember NOT Try and remembers.
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought. It nust have a verb and a sebject, and the verb and subject must agree in the subject and number.
E.g., She smiles. But I smile (agreemenr in subject).
E.g., Accuracy is essential. But accuracy and spelling are important (agreement in number).
There are many special cases to become familiar with, such as collective nouns take a singular verb, e.g., "the council is", "the government is", "the flock is". A frequent exception in journalism is where sports teams are treated as plural, as in "The Manchester United are..."
There are four types of sentence:
1. Statement - The lecturer has broken his leg.
2. Exclamation - Broken his leg!
3. Question - How did he do it?
4. Imperative or command - Don''t let him walk on it.

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)
Commas
Commas are perhaps the most misused of all grammartical devices. Few people know where they go. As a guide, try to write so that there are as few commas as possible. It is nearly always possible to rewrite a passage to avoid some, if not all, coomas. The comma marks short pause in logic, not pauses for preath in reading aloud, which is how many students understand its use. It can be used:

- In the place of "and" to separate serious of words of the same kind, e.g., The reporter should write clear, concise, accurate English.​

- Before and after (a) such phrases as "however", "for instance", "in fact", e.g., He said, however, he would not be in tomorrow. (b) alternatives e.g., His work was finer, more thorough, than Smith''s. ​

- To separate subordinate, non-defining, clauses, e.g., The lecturer, who was in his shirt sleeves, worked quickly. Here, the clause "who was in his shirt sleeves" can be removed from the sentence and what is left will still make sense - without commas (i.e. The lecturer worked quickly). A comma should not separate defining clauses, e.g.,
The lecturer who visited yesterday...​

In this case, the clause "who visited yesterday" defines which lecturer we are referring to. In the previous case we might have written:

The lecturer who was in shirt sleeves​

To define and distinguish fer/him from

The lecturer wearing a coat​

In both these exxamples the clauses are difining clauses.
Perhaps the most common mistake with commas comes when we use titles: e.g.
The Premier, John Smith, went on...This is correct because "John Smith" is a subordinate clause. The sentence would read perfectly sensibly without it. In effect, we are saying:

The Premier, (who is) John Smith,​

It would be incorrect to write:
Premier, John Smith, went on...
But correct to write:
Premier John Smith went on... (because "Premier Smith" is a aingle noun phrase, like Samuel Brown, General Jones, etc.)..
Apostrophes
Apostrophes have to uses:
- To denote a missing letter or letters as in

Do not = don''t; cannot = can''t; it is = it''s​

- To denote the genitive or possessive case

Jacob''s ladder; TTVNOL''s problem​

The apostrophe in these cases replaces prepositions such as "of", "from", e.g.: it was a problem emanating from TTVNOL. It was TTVNOL''s problem. One way to remember when and where to put apostrophes is to say, e.g., "Jacob (his) ladder", where the "hi" of "his" is replaced by the apostrophe, or "Curtin (its) problem", when the "it" of "its" is replaced by the apostrophe. The possessive pronoun "its" as in "its pawn", "its tail" does not take an apostrphe.
Infinitives
Such as: to be, to have, to hear, to do, etc.
Try not to split them, i.e., put a word between the two parts, such as in "to correctly make", "to bravely go", but don''t stick rigidly to the rule if the finished sentence sounds really awkward. Try to remember NOT Try and remembers.
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought. It nust have a verb and a sebject, and the verb and subject must agree in the subject and number.
E.g., She smiles. But I smile (agreemenr in subject).
E.g., Accuracy is essential. But accuracy and spelling are important (agreement in number).
There are many special cases to become familiar with, such as collective nouns take a singular verb, e.g., "the council is", "the government is", "the flock is". A frequent exception in journalism is where sports teams are treated as plural, as in "The Manchester United are..."
There are four types of sentence:
1. Statement - The lecturer has broken his leg.
2. Exclamation - Broken his leg!
3. Question - How did he do it?
4. Imperative or command - Don''t let him walk on it.

NEWS ENGLISH: A brief guide
By Stephan Millett
(continued)
Participles
A participle is, according to the Oxford Concise Dictionary, a "verbal adjective qualifying noun but retaining some properties of the verb, e.g., tense and government of object." There are two main things to avoid with principles. One is what is called a dangling, or misrelated, participle and the other is the inclusion of participles in initial subordinate clauses. Here is an example of a dangling participle:

Walking across the field, the bull charged him.​

The participle "walking" is intended to refer to the man (or boy), but positioned as it is, it refers to the bull, and leads to ambiguity. Who is walking, the man or the bull? The participle is dangling because it is isolated from that to which it is intended to refer.
There are several ways to avoid the dangling participle, for example:

1. Walking across the field, he was charged by a bull.
2. He was walking across the field a bull charge him.​

The second example substitutes the past continuing (imperfect) tense for the participle and so avoids confusion. The first example is correct but it is an example of the second thing to avoid with participles - that of including them in innitial subordinate clauses - (the clause "Walking across the field" merely qualifies the main point of the sentence "He was charged by a bull"). The problem is that we must read the netire sentence before we know who the subject is and to whom or to what "walking across the field" refers. In this example the problem is not great but more extreme examples are frustratingly common.
As a rough rule of thumb, verbs ending in "ing" are participles, e.g., "standing", "running", "walking", "thinking". However they can be mustaken for a gerund, which is a participle used as a noun, as in, e.g., "Thinking is rewarding activity."
Adjectives
An adjective is used to describe or limit the meaning of a noun, pronoun or other adjective. A compound adjective is present when two or more words function adjectivally as one. Compound adjectives take a hyphen, e.g.,
The well-known poet (although if the poet is well known it is not necessary to say so).
The well-structured argument.
Down-to-earth humour.
Perhaps the most common, but lease recognised, adjectives are the definite article (the) and the indefinite article (a, an). They function, as do all adjectives, to indicate which, how many or what kind of noun is being referred to. Adjectives (other than articles) are used sparingly in News English.
Tenses
It is important not to mix tenses in narrative reporting. For example, it is correct to write, say, a picture caption in the present tense to gain a greater impact, such as:
Brock leaps from his blazing car.
But one cannot then, consistently, change tenses to continue:
And stepped into a pool of burning oil.
Another common problem with tenses arises when paraphrasing a direct quote into reported speech. The speaker may say: â?oI am not convinced ca[ital punishment is the answer because I have seen its effects in other countries.â? In reported speech the present simple and present completed will become the past simple and past completed tenses and the quoted passage will be paraphrased as: he said he was not convinced that capital punishment is the answer because he had seen its effects in other countries. The reason for the change in tense is that the reported speech chronicles events or statements which happened in the past. To be true to the original meaning the original chronological rder must be retained as all verbs move one step toward the past.
Some more examples:
â?oI see him,â? he said.
Becomes
He said he saw him
â?oI have seen him,â? he said.
Becomes
He said he had seen him.
Ted Bottomley and Anthony Loftus, in A Journalistâ?Ts Guide to the Use of English (Star Publications, Birmingham), disregard the often-confusing tra***ional tense names to give a clear idea of how the tenses fit together.
There are three basic times (present, past and future) and three basic actions (simple, completed and continuing) and these give nine different tenses, as the following table shows:
Tra***ionally, the continuing tense is called the imperfect and the completed is called the past perfect, but the names are unimportant.
There other tenses can be formed where there is a mixture of continuing and completed action:
Paraphrasing direct speech into indirect speech is economical and precise, and avoids some of the ambiguities which arise without it.
Gender-specific language
There is no general need to use gender-specific terms such as "chairman", "spokesman" when other terms are available. It is better to say, e.g., "Ms Smith was in the Chair", and thereafter to refer to the position as "the Chair" than to use the term "Chairman". Terms such as "spokesperson" may innitially sound strange, but usage will make them more familiar. Many newspapers still insist on the old, gender-specific terms being used. The terms are written into paper''s House Style. The house style for most government publications is to use non-gender-specific language. This extends to using the title "Ms" for women generally, unless a particular woman prefers "Miss" or "Mrs", in which case she preferred title will be used. (Honorifics such as these are, however, not used in some certain newspapers).
Some non-gendered language can sound cumbersome and awkward, especially that used by government departments. This can often be re-writeed more simply and elegantly while still retaining its non-gendered character. It is your responsibility as a journalist to transform ungainly bureaucratic language, of all forms, into simple, elegant and unambiguous English.
There are some expressions which are blantly ***ist and which must be avoided. These include "lady doctor", "lady lawyer", "woman pilot", and "male nurse". The distinction based on *** is pejorative. It is also demeaning to allude to the physical attributes of a person when one would not do the same to a person of the opposite *** in the same circumstances. If it sounds ludicrous, which it does, to describe a man as "chesty, brown-eyed brunette father-of-three Graeme Smith", then why should it be acceptable to describe Betty Smith as "buxom, browm-eyed brunette mother-of-three?"