No matter what the medium, from print to broadcast to digital, Working with Words presents the best writing advice for journalists. It is designed to help students gain the grammatical and stylistic skills they need and then serve as a reference throughout their careers. Written by working journalists, with parts devoted to grammar and mechanics as well as journalistic style and writing for different media, it offers coverage the Associated Press Stylebook does not — and it’s affordably priced at 30-50% less than competing texts. The new edition contains tools that make it even easier to navigate, tackles the unique issues inherent to writing for online media, and offers improved grammar and writing instruction.

Brian S. Brooks is associate dean for undergraduate studies and administration at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. In addition to coauthoring News Reporting and Writing for Bedford/St. Martin’s, he is coauthor of Telling the Story, Third Edition (2007), Working with Words, Sixth Edition (2006), and The Art of Editing (2009).

James L. Pinson has taught journalism for about twenty-five years at the Missouri School of Journalism and at Eastern Michigan University,and has addressed various press groups on the subjects of grammar and other editing skills. He has also worked for newspapers in Colorado, Missouri, and Michigan, and has a doctorate in journalism and a master's in creative writing.

Jean Gaddy Wilson leads executives worldwide in creating successful strategies for the future. While on the Missouri School of Journalism faculty, she founded three national journalism organizations: New Directions for News, Journalism and Women's Symposium, and the National Women and Media Collection. She was a founding member of the Council of Presidents, an organization of the leading editorial organizations in newspapers, and of the International Women's Media Foundation. She has served as a Pulitzer Prize Nominating Juror for Journalism and currently serves as a consultant to international organizations.

Preface

Brief Contents

Introduction for Students

[Part One] Grammar and Usage

Chapter 1: Grammar Basics

Using Standard English

Why Don't We Write How We Talk?

Conventional Wisdom

Competing Grammars and Stylebooks

Grammar and Confidence

Communicating Well

Talking Shop
Key Principles Of Grammar
Web Resources: Grammar Help

Chapter 2: Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences
Phrases
Phrases as Subjects, Objects and Predicate Nominatives

Phrases as Verbs

Phrases as Modifiers

Phrases as Connecting Words

Clauses
Independent Clauses

Dependent Clauses

Restrictive Versus Nonrestrictive
Journalism Tip: Punctuating Nonrestrictive Phrases and Clauses

Sentences

Journalism Tip: Using Different Types of Sentences

Sentence Errors
Fragments

Fused Sentences

Comma-Splice Sentences

Run-On Sentences

Chapter 3: Subjects and Objects
Kinds of Subjects
Kinds of Objects
Common Nouns Versus Proper Nouns
Journalism Tip: Using Trademarks
The Forms Nouns Take
Forming Singulars and Plurals Of Nouns

Forming Possessives of Nouns

Pronoun Person, Number and Gender
Pronoun Cases
Nominative Case With Pronouns

Journalism Tip: Predicate Nominatives in Formal Writing Versus Broadcast

Objective Case With Pronouns

Possessive Case With Pronouns

Relative Pronouns
Whose Versus Who's

Pronouns Ending In Self or Selves
Verbal Nouns: Gerunds and Infinitives
Chapter 4: Verbs
Helping Verbs Versus Main Verbs
Transitive Verbs Versus Intransitive Verbs
Tenses
Using the Simple Tenses

Using the Perfect Tenses

Using the Progressive Tenses

Shall Versus Will
Regular Verbs Versus Irregular Verbs

Sequence of Tenses
Past Tenses

Present Tenses

Journalism Tip: Journalism and Sequence Of Tenses

Future Tenses

Keeping Verb Tenses Consistent
Active Voice Versus Passive Voice
Journalism Tip: When Not To Change Passive Voice to Active

Mood

Indicative Mood

Imperative Mood

Conditional Mood

Subjunctive Mood

Journalism Tip: Verb Moods

Nouns Used As Verbs
Verbals
Gerunds

Participles

Infinitives

Chapter 5: Making the Parts Agree
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Conjunctions
Collective and Uncountable Nouns
Journalism Tip: Groups of People in the News

Names of Teams and Musical Groups
Other Confusing Nouns
Indefinite Pronouns
Intervening Nouns and Pronouns
Prepositional Phrases
Subject and Predicate Nominative Disagreement
Inverted Order
MAKING PRONOUNS AND ANTECEDENTS AGREE

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Clear Pronoun Reference
MAKING SENTENCES PARALLEL

Make Items in A Series Parallel
Make Verbs Parallel
Chapter 6: Modifiers and Connecting Words
MODIFIERS

Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives Versus Adverbs
Coordinate Adjectives Versus Compound Modifiers
Journalism Tip: Compound Modifiers Without Hyphens

Articles
Sentence Adverbs
Participles
Double Negatives
Interjections
CONNECTING WORDS

Prepositions
Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions

Correlative Conjunctions

Subordinating Conjunctions

Conjunctive Adverbs
Chapter 7: Getting Words in the Right Order
Misplaced Modifiers
Adverb Placement
Less Confusing Jumbled Word Orders
Chapter 8: Usage: Finding the Right Word
Journalism Tip: Conservative Stylebook Rules

Misused and Confused Words and Phrases

[Part Two]: Mechanics
Chapter 9: Punctuation
Commas
Always Use a Comma

Never Use a Comma

Possibly Use a Comma

Quotation Marks and Other Problems of Quoting
What to Quote

Attribution of Quotations

Paraphrases

Quotations Across Paragraphs

Other Issues With Quotes

Semicolons
Colons
Dashes
Parentheses
Hyphens
Apostrophes
Slashes
Periods, Exclamation Points and Question Marks
Chapter 10: Spelling Relief
Spelling Rules
Prefixes

Suffixes

Journalism Tip: Spelling and Your Career

The Silent E
Other Spelling Rules

Words Often Misspelled
Hyphenation as a Spelling Problem
Looking Up Words for Hyphenation

One Word, Two Words, or Hyphenated?

American Versus British Spelling
Web Resources: Spelling

[Part Three] Style
Chapter 11: Writing as a Journalist
Keys to Good Journalistic Writing
Clarity
A Clarity Checklist

Writing Levels

Unanswered Questions

Specifics

Math and Clarity

Correctness
Objectivity

Rules of Objective Writing

Web Resources: Writing Help
Chapter 12: Conciseness
Tightening
Use Fewer Words

Use Simpler Words

Use Exact Words

Be Fresh, Not Stale

What to Tighten, A to Z
Web Resources: Concise Writing

Chapter 13: Sexism, Racism, and Other "Isms"
Don
Language Turns To the Future
New Players in the New Millennium
A Brief History of "Isms"
Future Realities: More Language Transformation Coming
Dealing With Current Reality
Sexism

Racism

Ageism

Other Stereotyping

The Nonbias Rule
Symbolic Annihilation
Dumping Today
Web Resources: Competent Language

[Part Four] Writing Methods for Different Media
Chapter 14: Writing News That
News Leads
Pick the Best Angle
Hard-News Leads
Who Was Involved?

What Happened?

When Did It Happen?

Where Did It Happen?

Problems With Hard-News Leads
Soft-News Leads
Soft-News Cliches
What Comes After The Lead?
Web Resources: Journalism Reviews
Chapter 15: Writing News for Broadcast
Print Versus Broadcast News
Use a Conventional Style

Personalize the News

Make It Easy To Understand

Keep It Short

Keep It Timely

Make It Clear

Broadcasters Must Know Grammar
Broadcast Hard-News Leads
Start With the Who
What Happened?

Other Points to Remember

Broadcast Story Structure
Broadcast Style Summary
Preparing Your Manuscript for Radio

Preparing Your Manuscript for Television

Editing and Other Symbols

Pronunciation

Abbreviations

Numbers

Punctuation

Names

Spelling

Web Resources: Broadcasting
Chapter 16: Writing and Editing for the Web
Online Media Are Unique
Correctness (Or Credibility)

Conciseness

Consistency

Completeness

The Fifth C
Writing and Presenting News Online
Writing With Search Engines In Mind

Legal and Ethical Concerns

Corrections

Hyperlinks to External Sites

Tomorrow's Readers

Web Resources: Online Media

Appendix: Wire-Service Style Summary
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Punctuation

Symbols

Dates

People and Titles

Organizations

Places

Miscellaneous

Capitalization
Proper Nouns

Geographic Regions

Government And College Terms

Religious Terms

Titles

Miscellaneous

Numbers
Cardinal Numbers

Numerals With Suffixes

Numbers as Words

Other Rules for Numbers

Web Resources: Associated Press Style

Bibliography

Index

Web Resources: Additional Sources

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Working with Words : A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors

9781457604935

1457604930

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