News Writing Part 20

=Right.=--The mob seemed to hold him responsible for two things, namely--the lost key and the barred door.

=68. Lists of Officers.=--In giving lists of officers, put a dash between the name of the office and the officer. Thus:

The newly elected officers are: President--O. N. Homer; Vice President--Abner King; Secretary--David Thoeder; Treasurer--Mark Bronson.

=69. Dialogue, Questions and Answers.=--In quoting questions and answers, proceedings of public bodies or trials, and dialogue generally, put a dash between the _Q._ or the _A._, or the name of the speaker, and the statement made. And make a new paragraph for each speaker. Thus:

_Q._--Are you a resident of Montana? _A._--I have been for four years.

=70. Slowness of Speech.=--Put a dash between words or phrases to indicate slowness or hesitancy in speech. Thus: "These, he said, were his--er--wife's slippers."

7. Parentheses

=71. Political Parties.=--In legislative or congressional reports in which the political affiliation of a member, or the state or county from which he comes, is given, enclose the party, state, or county name in parentheses: as, _Mr. Smith (Dem., S. C.)_, _Mr. Harris (Jefferson)_.

=72. General Usage.=--Avoid the use of parentheses within sentences. Two short sentences are better than one long one containing a parenthetic expression. A sentence having a clause within marks of parentheses can generally be cut into two sentences and for newspaper purposes made more effective.

8. Quotation-Marks

=73. Direct Quotations.=--Quotation-marks are used to set off direct quotations printed in the same type and style as the remainder of the story. A quotation coming within a quotation is set off by single quotation-marks; and a third quotation coming within single quotation-marks is set off by double marks again. Do not fail to put "quotes" at the end of a quotation. This very common error, failure to include the "end quotes," is a source of great annoyance to printers and proof-readers.

=74. Quoted Paragraphs.=--When a quotation includes more than one paragraph set in the same type and style as the context, put quotation-marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but omit them at the end of every paragraph except the last. In this way the quotation is shown to be continuous. As a rule, a quotation of more than one sentence is written in a separate paragraph. When the quotation is to be set in smaller type than the body of the story, all quotation-marks at the beginning and end of the paragraphs are omitted.

=75. Quotations and Summaries.=--When reporting a speech or interview and alternately summarizing and quoting verbatim, do not include in the same paragraph a direct quotation and a condensed summary of what precedes or follows. Make a separate paragraph for each. Thus:

"Shall we continue to listen to a wandering voice as imbecile as our condition?" said the speaker. "When this voice recently was removed from the counsels of our government, we thought, good easy souls, that we had got rid of it forever. Has Mr. Bryan proved himself so good a prophet in the past that we can afford to trust him in the future? Personally, I have never believed in Mr. Bryan's wisdom, and I grant him sincerity only because the point is not worth arguing." Mr. Eastbrook said, amid applause, that to say the nation is too big or too proud to fight in self-defense is absurd. To say that a mob of a million or so of untrained citizenry could leap to arms and put to flight the bullet-tested soldiery of Europe is worse than puerile--is murderous stupidity, he declared....

=76. Books, Plays, etc.=--Enclose in quotation-marks the t.i.tles of books, dramas, songs, poems, stories, magazine articles, toasts, and lectures.

=77. Newspapers, Vessels, etc.=--Do not quote the names of newspapers, magazines, paintings, vessels, cars, or animals.

=78. Slang and Technical Terms.=--Enclose in quotation-marks slang and technical terms that are supposedly unfamiliar to the reader.

=79. Nicknames.=--Do not quote nicknames of persons or of characters in plays or novels: as, _Ty Cobb_, _T. R._, _Heinie Zim_, _Becky Sharp_, etc.

9. The Apostrophe

=80. Possessive Case.=--Use an apostrophe and an _s_ to indicate the possessive case singular, no matter whether the word ends in one or two _s's_: as, _Burns's house_, _Furness's hat_.[51] Use the apostrophe and _s_ to indicate the possessive case plural when the plural does not end in _s_: as, _men's meeting_, _children's shoes_. Use only the apostrophe to indicate the possessive case plural when the plural ends in _s_: as, _boys' hats_, _ladies' outfitter_. In names of corporations, cases of joint authors.h.i.+p, etc., where two names are equally in the possessive case, put the apostrophe, or the apostrophe and _s_, only after the name nearest the thing possessed: as, _Farmers and Merchants' bank_, _Allen and Bowen's "Cla.s.sical Mythology_."

[51] Occasional exceptions to this general rule are found, where euphony would be violated by the additional _s_: as, Ulysses' son, Moses' staff.

=81. Possessive p.r.o.nouns.=--Do not use the apostrophe before the _s_ in possessive p.r.o.nouns: as, _its_, _hers_, _theirs_.

=82. Contractions.=--Use an apostrophe in contracted words to indicate the omission of letters: as, _couldn't_, _he'll_, _you're_.

10. The Hyphen

=83. Compound Words.=--Put a hyphen between the members of a compound word. Words compounded with the following prefixes and suffixes are generally hyphenated: _able-_, _brother-_, _by-_, _cross-_, _-elect_, _ex-_, _father-_, _great-_, _half-_, _-hand_, _mother-_, _open-_, _public-_, _quarter-_, _-rate_, _self-_. In particular, hyphenate the following words:

able-bodied attorney-general balk-line base-hit base-line basket-ball brother-in-law bucket-shop by-law by-product court-martial cross-examine ex-president father-in-law full-back goal-line goal-post good-by great-grandfather half-back half-witted home-stretch judge-elect kick-off kick-out law-abiding life-saving line-up mail-box man-of-war mother-in-law office-seeker old-fas.h.i.+oned post-mortem post-office president-elect quarter-back quarter-stretch second-rate shop-girl short-stop side-lines so-called (a.) son-in-law spit-ball to-day to-morrow to-night

84. Words Written Solid.--Words compounded of the following prefixes and suffixes are generally written solid: _a-_, _after-_, _ante-_, _anti-_, _auto-_, _bi-_, _demi-_, _-ever_, _grand-_, _-holder_, _in-_, _inter-_, _intra-_, _-less_, _mid-_, _mis-_, _off-_, _on-_, _over-_, _post-_, _re-_, _-some_, _sub-_, _super-_, _tri-_, _un-_, _under-_, _up-_, _-ward_, _-wise_, _-with_. The following should be written solid:

anyone anyway (adv.) anywhere awhile baseball billboard bipartizan bondholder carload cla.s.smate corespondent downstairs everyday (a.) everyone fireproof football footlights footpad gateman holdup inasmuch infield ironclad juryman landlady lawsuit letterhead linesman midnight misprint misspell nevertheless newcomer nonunion northeast northwest Oddfellows officeholder oneself outfield pallbearer paymaster postcard posthaste postmaster rewrite saloonkeeper schoolboy schoolgirl semicolon shopkeeper sidewalk skysc.r.a.per snowstorm southeast southwest taxpayer typewriter upstairs

=85. Words Written Separately.=--Write the following as two words:

all right any time back yard every time ex officio fellow man half dollar half dozen half nelson ma.s.s meeting no one pay roll police court per cent pro tem some one some way squeeze play

=86. Compound Numbers.=--Compound numbers between twenty and a hundred, when spelled out, should have a hyphen: as, _twenty-one_, _forty-three_.

=87. Word Division.=--When dividing a word at the end of a line, observe the following rules:

1. Do not break a syllable: as, _cre-ditable_, _attemp-ted_, for _cred-itable_, _attempt-ed_.

2. Do not divide a monosyllable: as, _mob-bed_, _tho-ugh_.

3. Do not separate a consonant from a vowel that affects its p.r.o.nunciation: as, _nec-essity_ for _ne-cessity_.

4. Do not divide a diphthong or separate two successive vowels, one of which is silent: as, _bo-wing_, _pe-ople_, for _bow-ing_, _peo-ple_.

5. Do not separate a syllable that has been added to a word by the addition of an _s_: as, _financ-es_.

6. Do not divide hyphenated words except at the syllable where the regular hyphen comes: as, _pocket-book_, _fool-killer_.

7. Do not make awkward divisions: as, _noth-ing_, _crack-le_.

8. Do not begin a line with a hyphen.

9. As a rule, avoid dividing a word at the end of a line and never divide one at the end of a page.

10. Abbreviations

=88. Abbreviations Avoided.=--Abbreviations should as a rule be avoided.

The coming of the typewriter into journalism has created a tendency to write out all words in full.

=89. Personal and Professional t.i.tles.=--The following personal and professional t.i.tles are abbreviated when preceding proper names:

Adjt. Gen.

Brig. Gen.

Capt.

Col.

Dr.

Gen.

Gov.

Gov. Gen.

Hon.

Lieut.