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COMMON WRITING PROBLEMS:Eliminate clichés, Don’t misuse words

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Feature and Column Writing ­ MCM 514
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LESSON 34
COMMON WRITING PROBLEMS
Mastering all the available techniques will take time. Excellence in writing, like excellence at any pursuit,
takes practice and application. But once you learn to gather your research materials, structure your
writing, and use all the literary tools efficiently and properly, you are well on your way.
Every award-winning writer whose material appears in this book has gone through the learning process.
Each has learned from his or her errors and gone on to write better features. Some writers don't. The key
is one of commitment. If you are serious about writing, don't let mental and literary lapses get you down.
By all means, avoid them whenever possible. But if a mistake slips through, don't ignore it. Learn from it.
Despite repeated attempts at developing good write-ups, there are numerous problems, which mar the
writing capabilities of the writers ­ ultimately causing annoyance among the readers. Generally speaking,
these are:
1. Eliminate unnecessary words
Most writers agree that it's easier and quicker for them to write long than it is to write short. But tight
copy consumes fewer column inches, and it's punchier and more interesting to read. So stop before you
write. Ask yourself what your article is about. Ask yourself what you want to say. When the answer to
these two questions is firmly in mind, it's easier to stay on track.
2. Eliminate clichés
Most people often think and talk in clichés and stereotypes. Clichés are a kind of mental and oral
shorthand, allowing you to create quick images without having to work at it. But don't let the clichés go
from thought to paper. "Needle in a haystack. Busy as a bee. Straight as an arrow. Throw caution to the
winds" ­ if it sounds too familiar to you, strike it from your copy.
3. Don't overuse adjectives and adverbs
As juicy as they might be, adjectives and adverbs slow the pace of reading. And if you've chosen your
noun or verb precisely, an adjective or adverb may weaken the impact. Look at every sentence you write.
Check the adjectives. Are they necessary? What about the adverbs? Can you get along without them? If
they seem important to the sense of the sentence, leave them. If they seem superfluous, strike them.
4. Don't use too many big words
Every writer likes to show off. If you know words like propinquities or sesquipedalian, you're tempted to
drop them into the copy to demonstrate how erudite you are. Don't. If the word is too big or too unusual,
it will stop readers in their tracks. And if the reader has to go the dictionary just to see what you mean,
you've defeated your purpose--to keep the reader moving smoothly through the copy.
5. Don't misuse words
On the other hand, you, as the writer, should stop and use a dictionary. Use it often. Misuse of words is
one of the more common writing errors. You think words mean one thing when the dictionary will tell
you clearly that they mean something else. The most flagrant misuses occur with similar-sounding
constructions such as lie/lay, sit/set, and affect/effect, compose/comprise and imply/infer. You would be
wise to brush up on the proper meanings of all five of these potential disasters. For example, imply means
to insinuate. "Are you implying that I'm a linguistic dolt?" Infer, often used incorrectly as a synonym for
imply, actually means to deduce. "Do I infer that you think I'm a linguistic dolt?"
The two words are used interchangeably by the uneducated, but they are not interchangeable. If you use
such words incorrectly and the error gets into print, somewhere out there among your readers a number of
linguistic purists will catch the error and will sneer at you. Cut the sneers to a minimum.
6. Don't be a careless speller
While you're looking in the dictionary, check for proper spellings. Some writers are good spellers,
through years of practice and experience, but every writer has blind spots. Misspelled words are among
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the most visible of errors, and they always make you look bad. If you are a poor speller, wear out a
dictionary per year if you have to. Check and double-check words you chronically misspell until you
work your way past the mental block. And don't just look up difficult words like accommodate,
boutonniere, connoisseur, eleemosynary and tonsillitis. Sometimes simple words will throw you.
Gray/grey, for example. Even though you may see it spelled "grey" in print, it's wrong. "Gray" is the
American spelling. "Grey" is British. Take the first dictionary preference if two are listed. Nor can you
always depend on those handy spelling aids you learned as a child, such as "i before e, except after c."
The memory guide may work most of the time, but there are notable exceptions. "Society," for one.
"Weird, ""seize," "inveigle," "leisure," for others. If you aren't sure about a word, check the dictionary.
In time, the correct forms will stay in your memory.
7. Avoid jargon
Stay away from phrases that crop up within various professions and make sense only to people, who work
in those professions. You've heard police officers on local television using terms such as "apprehend the
perpetrator." That's fine for an officer filling out an arrest report. You're better off, though, saying "arrest
the suspect." All fields of activity have their own jargon: Scholarly researchers use terms like
"manipulated orientation" and "usual viewing mode" and "experimental protocols"; yacht lovers use
"bowsprit" and "semi-circular deviation" and "gunk hole"; writers toss around terms like "graf' and "lead
block" and "double-truck."
Don't make your readers work overtime to understand. Of course if you're writing for a specialised
audience and a specialised market you'll sound naive if you don't use the specialised jargon they expect.
Just make sure you use it correctly.
8. Don't use sexist language
Many readers are offended by sexist terms like businessman, newsman, sportsmanship, mankind,
founding fathers, maiden voyage and Lady Luck. They would prefer business executive, reporter, fair
play, humankind, forebears, first voyage and just plain luck.
Of course, you can go a little crazy and end up with clumsy writing trying to deseed every single word
you put to paper, so use common sense. Don't change "manipulate" to "personipulate." Half the battle is
being aware that words can offend. The best way to check a term for pejorative content is to ask yourself
whether you would use the same term for the opposite sex and whether you would want it said about you.
9. Don't mind-read
When writing about people and using the occasional paraphrase to season your direct quotes, there's a
tendency to drift into word constructions such as "The mayor feels that big business is wrecking the
economy. Don't. It's better to say, "The mayor says big business is wrecking the economy." The same
advice holds for describing emotions. Don't say, "The senator was angry. Tell us "The senator shook his
fist at the audience and demanded silence." We'll get the idea. Mind reading is for clairvoyants and has
no place in the professional job of reporting.
10. Avoid partial quotes
Interview techniques take practice, and many beginning writers have difficulty "getting the entire quote,"
so they write happily along and "quote only as much" as they are certain, that is correct in their notes. But
"partial quotes" are obtrusive and harder "on the reader" than full quotes, as you will naturally have
noticed in these two sentences. If you have only a piece of a quote that seems important to you, ask your
source to repeat it until you get it all. With practice and experience, you'll eventually learn to jot down
quotes more quickly and fully.
11. Avoid redundancies
Like clichés, some redundancies slip into the language and appear to grow roots. You see them so often
that you begin to use them without thinking. You write "close proximity" and "assemble together" and
"true facts" without considering the improper waste of words. You describe something as "plain and
simple" or "right and proper" or "reasonable and fair," adding unnecessary verbiage. If you're a freelance
writer getting paid by the word, this is not the way to increase your word count.
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12. Don't switch tenses
Some apprentice writers have difficulty choosing tenses. Attributions hop back and forth from present
tense to past tense:
Murtaza says government waste must stop. He said, "It has become rampant."
Which is it to be? "Says"? "Said"? Pick one and stick with it. Check to see if you have placed your
subject in space and time. If you have, past tense is better. "Murtaza, testifying at a special session last
Tuesday, said  But if your speaker is floating, pinned neither to a specific location nor a specific time,
present tense is often best. "Murtaza, a supporter of free trade, says  whichever you choose, use it
throughout your story. Consistency is the hallmark of a good writer.
13. Don't allow inconsistencies in style
A good writer also uses a consistent pattern in punctuation, spelling and other language basics. To help
you maintain consistency, use a good stylebook. Many newspapers and magazines have their own style
and consistency rules.
If you work for a single publication, learn the proper style and use it. If you are a freelancer writing for
several publications, you might decide to make it easier on yourself by using the Associated Press
stylebook. Most editors are acquainted with the wire-service stylebook and will at least recognise that
you've tried to regulate consistency in your writing.
The main purpose of any set of style rules is to help you reach a level of uniformity. Editors will
appreciate your copy more if you show consistency with spellings, punctuation, numerals, capitalisations,
abbreviations and so on. They prefer their own style, of course. Just remember that style is basically only
a matter of preference. It varies from publication to publication. The clever writer will pick up on style
preference and give each publication the style it likes.
14. Avoid common grammatical mistakes
Good grammar is a sign of an educated person. If you want to sound like a clod, save it for informal
chatting with your friends and family. Don't inflict sloppy grammar on editors or on readers. There are,
unfortunately, hundreds of rules and principles governing proper grammar and usage, far too many for
easy memorisation. Most people who commit grammatical gaffes do so without even realizing it. But
ignorance is no excuse. Like someone sitting at a dinner table eating peas with a spoon and mashed
potatoes with a knife, you'll still look bad. Until you become more conversant with the mechanical details
of good writing, the only salvation is to buy a good grammar handbook--something simple like Strunk
and White's The Element of Style, or something more complex like Penn's Reference Handbook of
Grammar and Usage or any of the other detailed handbook and refer to it frequently. Even after you
reach a good working relationship with the basic rules of grammar, it's a good idea to go back and review
the rules every two or three years. Even good writers tend to forget the principles and need occasional
tune-ups.
In the meantime, check your current awareness by looking at the following four examples, dealing with
nominative versus objective pronouns, dangling participles, noun/verb/pronoun agreement and split
infinitives. If you don't quickly recognise the all-too-prevalent error in each, you may be in trouble.
15. Don't misuse ellipses
One of the quickest ways to irritate an editor or a copy desk is to use ellipses (those three dots... that
separate copy) incorrectly. The ellipsis is a favourite device of the beginning writer, although no one has
ever figured out why. Sometimes beginners use two dots, sometimes a half-dozen, but innovation in
punctuation is frowned upon. If you want to appear professional, make sure you use ellipses only when
necessary and only correctly. There are three proper uses for the ellipsis. One is formal: to indicate an
omission from quoted or cited material. The other two purposes are dramatic. Use ellipses to denote
pauses ("We could get the money, but it would be ... wrong"), or to suggest a sentence that trails off,
without being completed ("Frankly, my dear, I don't give a......)
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16. Avoid exclamation points
Unless you're writing for a market that likes exclamation points (like James Lake's adventure magazines
for men), you might as well put a piece of tape over that particular word processor key and never use it
again. Frequent use of the exclamation point will mark you as the greenest of amateurs. You can't punch
up a dull piece of copy by applying the to it. Once you learn to get along without the exclamation point,
you can remove the tape and put it back into your writing repertoire for the infrequent occasion for which
it will be handy.
17. Don't mistreat quotation marks
Another piece of standard punctuation that gives many writers fits is the simple quotation mark. It
shouldn't be a problem. The rules are hard and fast. But the errors crop up anyway. Here's a rule worth
remembering: For American publications, periods and commas that run adjacent to the quote mark go
inside the quote.
Questions marks, colons and semicolons may be inside or outside, depending on the sense of the sentence
and whether they are part of the quotation. If you're writing features and magazine articles, you'll be
using lots of quotes, so you may as well turn to some handy guide and learn all the rules now.
18. Use common comma sense
Some punctuation rules are definite--quotation marks, question marks, periods, ellipses, semicolons and
colons. Other punctuation rules can be moderately soft, depending on the style rules used by your target
publication. Hyphen rules fall in this category. So do some comma rules. The main thing about commas is
to use them sensibly. Will you put a common before the "and" in a series or not? Formal English says
yes. General English says it's optional, unless you're following a specific style guide, such as AP style,
which says no. All comma rules aren't that soft. If you aren't sure, check your nearest style or grammar
handbook.
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Table of Contents:
  1. IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE:Feature writing, Explanation of the definition
  2. SOURCES OF MATERIAL:Commemorations, Science and Technology
  3. INTERNET USAGE IN FEATURE WRITING:Be very careful, Website checklist
  4. WHAT MAKES A GOOD FEATURE?:Meeting demands of readers
  5. DEMANDS OF A FEATURE:Entertainment and Interest, Both sides of picture
  6. CONDUCTING AND WRITING OF INTERVIEWS:Kinds of interviews
  7. WRITING NOVELTY INTROS:Punch or astonisher intros, Direct quotation intros
  8. STRUCTURE OF FEATURES:Intro or Lead, Transition, Body
  9. SELECTION OF PICTURES, ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS:Sources
  10. FEATURES AND EDITORIAL POLICY:Slanting or angling feature
  11. HUMAN INTEREST AND FEATURE WRITING:Obtaining facts, Knowing how to write
  12. NEWSPAPER FEATURE STORY:The Business Story, The Medical Story
  13. THE NEWSPAPER FEATURE STORY IDEA:Conflict, Human interest
  14. MAGAZINE FEATURE VERSUS DAILIES:Feature versus Editorial, An overview
  15. WRITING THE SPECIALISED FEATURE STORY:The Deadline Feature Sidebar
  16. MODERN FEATURE AND ITS TREATMENT:Readers’ constraints
  17. MODERN FEATURE WRITING TECHNIQUE:The Blundell Technique
  18. ADVICE TO FEATURE WRITERS:A guide to better writing, Love Writing
  19. COLUMN WRITING:Definition, Various definitions, Why most powerful?
  20. COLUMN WRITING IN MODERN AGE:Diversity of thought, Individuality
  21. ENGLISH AND URDU COLUMNISTS:More of anecdotal, Letting readers know
  22. TYPES OF COLUMNS:Reporting-in-Depth Columns, Gossip Columns
  23. OBJECTIVES AND IMPORTANCE OF COLUMNS:Friendly atmosphere, Analysis
  24. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIALS AND BASIC POINTS THAT GO IN TO THE FORMING OF A COLUMN?
  25. STYLE:General and a specialised writing, How can a columnist improve it?
  26. GENERAL STYLE OF THE COLUMN:Unified Style, Anecdotal Style, Departmental Style
  27. STRUCTURE OF A COLUMN:Intro or lead, Main body, Conclusion
  28. COLUMN WRITING TIPS:Write with conviction, Purpose, Content
  29. SELECTION OF A TOPIC:Close to your heart, Things keeping in Queue
  30. QUALITIES OF A COLUMN WRITER:Personal, Professional, Highly Educated
  31. WHAT MUST BE PRACTISED BY A COLUMNIST?:Pleasantness, Fluency
  32. SOURCES OF MATERIAL OF COLUMNS:Constant factors, Interview
  33. USEFUL WRITING DEVICES:Be specific, Use Characterisation, Describe scenes
  34. COMMON WRITING PROBLEMS:Eliminate clichés, Don’t misuse words
  35. WRITING THE COLUMN:Certain thumb rules, After writing the column
  36. ARTICLE WRITING:Introduction, Definition, Contents, Main Segments, Main body
  37. HOW TO WRITE AN ARTICLE?:It is more efficient, It is more believable
  38. TYPES AND SUBJECTS OF ARTICLE:Interview articles, Utility articles
  39. FIVE COMMANDMENTS, NO PROFESSIONAL FORGETS:Use Key Words
  40. ARTICLES WRITING MISTAKES:Plagiarising or 'buying articles, Rambling
  41. WRITING THE ARTICLE:Various parts of article, The topic sentence
  42. What to do when you have written the article?:Writing the first draft
  43. TEN STANDARD ARTICLE FORMATS:The informative articles
  44. LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WRITERS:Libel, Doctoring Quotes
  45. REVISION:Importance of language, Feature writing, Sources of material