Larry Sommers
\nof the Public Affairs Office, Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs,
\nshares three of his pet peeves:<\/p>\n
\n“Prior to” <\/strong>– Military memo writers never say “before” when they can say “prior to.” It’s always something like, “Be sure to move your vehicles from the north parking lot prior to 1600 hours, when
\nthe night crew will be be plowing.” This manner of writing creeps
\ninto military journalism, e.g.: “Sgt. Kevlar is seen here polishing
\nhis boots prior to reporting for duty.”<\/li>\n“Tragic death”<\/strong> – On both local and national television,
\nand in quite a few newspapers as well, it seems death = tragedy. We
\nknow, of course, that only a few deaths (Oedipus, Hamlet, Buddy Holly)
\nare actually tragic; some deaths (Gauguin, Chuckles the Clown) are
\nbanal; some (Osama bin Laden, the Crocodile Hunter) might be satisfying;
\nand ALL THE REST – roughly 99.9 percent of all human deaths – are
\njust deaths, no adjectives need apply.<\/li>\n“Yada-yada-yada,” So-and-so added\/ noted\/ explained\/ <\/strong>commented\/ remarked\/ pointed out. <\/strong>Fortunately, more typical of
\nstudent journalists than of professionals. More than nine times out
\nof ten, “said” is the better choice. It is the exception to the rule
\nthat we should look for more lively verbs. One would usually prefer
\nthe smack and tang of the quote itself to draw the reader’s attention,
\nwithout being upstaged by some fancy-schmancy verb-of-assertion hovering
\njust beyond the quotation marks. Of course, that assumes the writer
\nhas been able to discover an interesting and relevant quote somewhere
\namid the speaker’s ruminations.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Larry Sommers of the Public Affairs Office, Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, shares three of his pet peeves: “Prior to” – Military memo writers never say “before” when they can say “prior to.” It’s always something like, “Be sure to … Continue reading