Deck 3: How Is News Language Different

Question 1

According to Hayakawa, an inference is "a statement about the unknown based on the known."

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Hayakawa would agree with the following: Judgments are expressions of journalists' approval or disapproval of the subjects they are describing. They say more about a writer's attitude toward the subject than about the subject itself.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

News stories should focus on the personal, using first-person references wherever possible.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The main focus of the Associated Press Stylebook is providing guidelines for how journalists can dress professionally for different types of interviews or meetings.

Question 5

Which of the following best describes good newswriting style?

A) Newswriting is concise and direct.
B) Newswriting emphasizes information rather than the writer or speaker.
C) Newswriting uses simple sentence structures.
D) All of the above

Question 6

Which of the following must be true of a sentence in the passive voice?

A) It must contain a form of the verb to be.
B) It must contain a form of the verb to have.
C) It must contain the past tense of the second verb.
D) All of the above

Question 7

Which of the following statements is the best example of Hayakawa's definition of a report?

A) Former president Ronald Reagan died in 2004.
B) Ronald Reagan was the best president ever to hold the office of president.
C) Ronald Reagan was such a nice man.
D) All of the above

Question 8

In a news story, how long should paragraphs typically be?

A) One or two sentences.
B) Four or five sentences.
C) Seven or eight sentences.
D) As many as the journalist wants.

Question 9

According to Associated Press Style, which one of the following answers is correct?

A) The 10 citizens waited two hours to vote Tuesday.
B) Ten citizens waited 2 hours to vote Tuesday.
C) The 10 citizens waited 2 hours to vote Tuesday.
D) The ten citizens waited two hours to vote Tuesday.

Question 10

Which of the following best describes why journalists should avoid using terms like firefighter instead of fireman or police officer instead of policeman?

A) Journalists should avoid reinforcing stereotypes that suggest people who hold these jobs should or would all be male.
B) Journalists know that language is powerful, and the word choices they make could serve the principle of justice.
C) Journalists have to be politically correct, or they'll get fired.
D) Both a and b

Question 11

Suppose a journalist composed each of the following paraphrases to include in a story. For each sentence, identify any inferences or judgments you see and then offer the journalist advice about how to change the sentence into a report.
a. The problem with young job seekers today is that they're unprofessional in their interviews, the human resources director said.
b. The murder victim had methamphetamine and alcohol in her system the morning she was shot and killed, according to the autopsy report the coroner released Friday.
c. BASE jumpers should be respected because they expand the notion of what humans can accomplish, said Sasha Lewalski, a spectator at the event

Question 12

For the following sentences, identify what, if anything, needs to be revised so that they conform to the language of basic news stories.
a. When asked if she was happy she won the medal, varsity cross-country standout Lisa Luna said that it was so unexpected that it really hadn't sunk in yet.
b. Mistakes were made by the XYZ Board of Directors, one shareholder said.
c. Keenan Stratford, an awesome river runner, award-winning boater, and veteran of some epic adventures around the globe, started his kayak journey down the full length of the glorious Mississippi River from its headwaters in Minnesota, where the elevation is just under 1500 feet, 1475 feet to be exact.

Question 13

Correct any AP style errors in the sentences below.
a. Of the van's twelve seats, two were used for coolers and other gear.
b. The new arts center will cost 22 million dollars and will take 2 years to complete.
c. The winners of the Hickman Spelling Bee were 11 year old Sam Raines and her nine year old sister, Claudette Raines.

Question 14

Please a.) Briefly define the terms report, inference and judgment, b.) describe why it is important for journalists to recognize the difference among them, and c.) describe how this understanding contributes to fulfilling the principle of truth telling.

Question 15

Identify and describe three main ways that news writing differs from other kinds of writing such as essays or a fictional story.