Nove regole d'oro del linguaggio

Unit 2 Newspapers

Most newspapers have their own style book - a policy statement which lists all the different rules about the styles of writing, spelling and language used for the newspaper. This is so that all articles will follow the same standard rules, and the paper's 'house-style' will be instantly recognisable. The list of rules below are examples of the advice style books give about how - and how not - to write news stories.

1. KISS

This stands for "Keep It Short and Simple". Broadsheet newspapers usually have sentences of 30-35 words; tabloids and local papers normally carry shorter sentences of 16-20 words. As Harold Evans, the famous editor who popularised the Sunday Times and Times, wrote: "Sentences should be full of bricks, beds, houses, cars, cows, men and women."

2. Reading for Speed

Everything about a newspaper is set up to enable you to read it fast. Sentences and headlines are

Short crossheads between paragraphs break the story down into bite-sized pieces, columns are narrow and easy to read. Words should be short too.

3. Never Use Three Words When One Will Do

4. Don't Repeat Yourself

Keep things short by making sure of the following: Don't use two words which mean the same - eg. uniquely special, important essentials, final outcome. Try not to repeat a word in the same sentence.

5. Use Active Verbs

'Burglars took the jewels' works better than 'The jewels were taken by the burglars' - and it's shorter.

Exercise 1: Re-write the following sentences to make them more active - and easier to read

1. It was agreed by the Committee that a working party be set up to explore opinions of the public on the prevention of vandalism.
2. The truth was told by the youth, but only after considerable

pressure was exerted over him by the arresting officers.

In 1952, journalists at the Daily Express were told by their proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook, that he intended to ban the use of puns in headlines and text. He failed; puns are too much fun, and readers enjoy them too much. Forty years on, we're still groaning at them, and these days they're almost as frequent in broadsheet papers as they are in tabloids.