The

PRactice

Guide to

Better

Writing

2

Introduction

THE PURPOSE OF this style guide is three-fold. It is accordingly divided into

three sections.

The first intention is to bring about a measure of uniformity and consistency

across all forms of writing. Whenever or wherever the English language

legitimately allows for variants in spelling, grammar and punctuation, in the

use of capitals, hyphens, abbreviations and so forth, the style guide has made

a conscious choice.

These choices have been dictated chiefly by tradition. The guide merely

codifies stylistic norms that are already are in force in newspapers or other

media platforms, though they may not have been written down before.

In a few areas where no choice had been made so far among existing

alternatives, this guide has plumped for one. The choices made must

henceforth be followed rigorously while writing, editing drafts for press kits,

briefing books, messaging documents, bylines, research papers and other

content for The PRactice and our clients.

The first section is thus called ‘Stylistic Choices’.

The second intention of the guide is to ensure that whenever or wherever the

English language has clearly laid down rules — rules of spelling, syntax and

punctuation — these are strictly followed.

In a permissive, fast-paced age, when people have little time for - or

inclination to obey - rules of any kind, particularly those relating to the

niceties of language, in an age when abbreviated text-messaging is becoming

more and more the norm of written communication, our style book has

chosen to remain reasonably conservative.

The second section will thus provide the correct spelling of words that are

often wrongly spelt, will point to – and correct – common errors in

grammatical usage and punctuation.

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The second section is thus called ‘Correct Usage’.

The third intention is to provide some guidelines by following which the

quality of prose can be maintained at a consistently high level.

Even perfectly correct English may not always make for good writing. But

contrary to the rules set down in the first two sections, these guidelines are

not absolute.

They are merely helpful hints towards good writing that can always be

ignored in the interests of even better writing.

The third section is called ‘Better Writing’.

Finally all rules are temporal, subject to change or even abolition as

circumstances change.

Our goal is to regularly update this document to make sure that it is in step

with the times.

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Part One: Stylistic Choices

A.

Abbreviations

By and large the full form of every common – and certainly every

uncommon – abbreviation should be used the first time it appears in the

body copy. If it appears more than once the abbreviation should follow the

full form within brackets at first usage. Thereafter only the abbreviation

need be employed.

Exceptions can be made, with the abbreviation used even at first mention, in

the case of those entities whose abbreviations are more familiar to readers

than their full forms, especially if the full forms are inordinately long. If the

full form comprises just one or two words, there need be no exception. For

instance, body copy should always use ‗the United States‘ or ‗the United

Kingdom‘, the first time these countries are referred to, not ‗the US‘ and ‗the

UK‘.

Full stops are not to be used between the letters, or at the end of,

abbreviations and acronyms. It is PMO and not P.M.O. (Prime Minister‘s

Office), US Embassy, not U.S. Embassy, UFO and not U.F.O. (unidentified

flying object). They are, however, always used after the initials in a proper

name: P. Chidambaram, V. S. Naipaul.

List of exceptions (not exhaustive):

1. Entities better known by their abbreviations than their full forms, provided

they consist of more than two words: (For example: HIV, BBC, CIA, DVD,

NGO, MP, MLA, MLC, km, kg, etc) They can be in capitals or lower case

depending on general usage.

2. National political parties – the BJP, the BSP, the CPI, the CPM; the four

well known regional parties of Tamil Nadu – the DMK, the AIADMK, the

PMK, the MDMK. All other regional parties, even if they are well known –

from the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, to the Telegu Desam Party in

Andhra to the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala – should be spelt out

in full at first use.

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Political parties of other countries should always be spelt out at first mention

in the copy, even if they are well known in India (For example: Pakistan

People‘s Party – PPP).

Other points to remember:

The name of a private company, public sector undertaking or any other

organisation should be spelt out at first reference, even if it is very well

known (Advanced Micro Devices, not AMD; Tata Iron and Steel Co, not

TISCO; Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd, not BHEL; Confederation of Indian

Industry; not CII, at first use.) Terms like ‗company‘ (Co), ‗limited‘ (Ltd),

‗public limited company‘ (‗Plc‘) ‗incorporated‘ (Inc) can be used in their

abbreviated forms when they appear at the end of the proper name of an

organisation ( as in the brackets above), but should always be spelt out in

full when they appear all by themselves (For example: ‗X‘ is a public limited

company).

Ranks, designations, positions of any kind, whether civil or military should

be spelt out at first reference and abbreviated thereafter. (For example:

Major-General (Maj Gen), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Chief

Executive Officer (CEO))

Latin abbreviations – eg, ie, op cit, - should never be used, either in body

copy or in the headline.

Abbreviations, if they are well known, may be used in headlines, but they

should be kept to a minimum. Months of the year can be abbreviated in

headlines, but never in body copy. More than one abbreviation in a single

headline is not permitted.

Acronyms

An acronym is an abbreviation which can – and usually is – be pronounced

as a word by itself (For example: Aids, AIIMS, Nato, Noida, Radar, Unesco)

and everything said about abbreviations applies to acronyms as well. If the

acronym is better known than the full form – as in the case of all the six

instances above, the acronym alone can be used. There is only one

difference: our style, unlike with many abbreviations where all the

individual letters are in capitals, with acronyms only the first letter is

capitalised. (Asean, not ASEAN; Unicef, not UNICEF)

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Age

A person‘s age can be recorded in two ways: ‗Ram Singh, 38‘, or ‗25-year-

old Asha Rani‘. But ‗Rahul Gandhi, aged 34‘, or ‗52 year old Tony Blair‘

(without the hyphens) is not allowed. All other forms of recording age,

specially ‗Thirty something‘, ‗Fortyish‘ etc, are banned.

Ampersand

The ampersand ‗&‘, is not suggested either in a headline or in the body

copy, unless it is part of a proper name (eg Proctor & Gamble, Larsen &

Toubro). The permitted form is ‗and‘.

B.

Banned words

Certain overused or excessively colloquial words have been banned from

usage. The list includes: basically, boss, quip (as a verb), flay, slam (in the

sense of ‗criticize‘), doc, mum (for silent) dubbed (for called), fin min (for

finance minister), nab (for arrested, held), Mush (for Musharraf), Prez (for

president), Dubya (for George W. Bush), and Japs (for Japanese), among

others.

C.

Capitals

The first letter of all proper names should obviously be capitalised. This

applies to proper names of people as well as places (including mountains,

rivers, oceans, continents as well as manmade structures from bridges to

theme parks) corporates, institutions, and organisations of all kinds,

including political parties (eg., Amartya Sen, Mumbai, Mount Everest, the

river Yamuna, the Indian Ocean, the Hooghly Bridge, Disneyland, Infosys

Technologies Ltd, the Reserve Bank of India, the Congress, the Lok Sabha,

the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the Khemka Foundation etc, etc). Agencies,

commissions, acts of Parliament should all have the first letters of their

names in capital letter.

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Months of the year, days of the week, should naturally start with a capital

letter.

Religions, religious festivals, ideologies (political and otherwise), followers

of those ideologies, indeed all labels which stem from a proper noun, should

start with a capital letter (Hinduism, Diwali, Marxism, Maoist, Gandhian,

etc). The same applies to major historical events (the Quit India Movement,

the Partition, and the Emergency, among others)

Ranks, positions, designations should always have their first letters in

capitals, barring the articles, prepositions and conjunctions they may

contain, which should be in lower case (the Prime Minister, the Minister of

State for Heavy Industries, the Chairman and Managing Director).

However, a distinction should be made between a designation and a job

description; the latter should be entirely in lower case. (Thus: ‗The editor of

the newspaper XYZ, but the newspaper Editor XYZ)

Points on a compass, when they are part of the name of any area or a

country, should start with a capital letter (North Korea; East Delhi).

All words deriving from a proper noun should have their first letter in

capitals (Teflon, Xerox, Alsatian, Champagne, etc).

In matters relating to the Internet, the worldwide trend is to use lower case

uniformly, which the stylebook follows. Thus it is ‗e-mail‘, ‗e-commerce‘,

dotcom, laptop, world wide web, etc, except if any of these words occur at

the start of a sentence.

Overall, the trend worldwide has been to reduce the use of capital letters.

Most newspapers/magazines today use fewer capitals than they did 20 years

ago, certainly less than they did 50 years back. (Some internet companies

and many email users seem keen to dispense with capitals altogether.)

However, there is no need to always follow the herd. At The PRactice, the

rule of thumb is: when in doubt, use the capital letter, not the lower case.

In headlines, only the first letter of the first word is in caps, unless any of the

other words fall in the categories referred to above.

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Captions

Every photograph, unless it is part of an infographic, should have a caption.

Even when photos of extremely well known people are used, they should be

accompanied by captions giving their names. If space is available, the

context of the photo should also be stated – when and where it was taken (if

it is a recent one). If an old photo is being used, the words ‗file photo‘ will

suffice. This is particularly relevant when we put together our post event

documents or even when we put together bio profiles of spokespersons.

If a bigger photograph is being used, and there is space for a long caption,

the caption should say more than whatever is obvious from merely looking

at the photograph. Within the constraints of the space available, captions

should try and go beyond the photograph, explain what readers cannot see in

the picture.

As with headlines, abbreviations may be used in captions if space is limited.

Charts and Tables

Whenever they are used, care should be taken to ensure they are perfectly

comprehensible to the reader without him/her having to go through the story

the charts or tables accompany. Charts and tables should always have

headings that make clear what they are all about.

Colloquialisms and Slang

Colloquialisms are not permitted. (Examples: ‗kids‘, ‗trendy‘, ‗pricey‘

‗cool‘, etc) Exceptions should be made, however, for the lighter content

meant for supplements or specific lighter, anchorish pieces or bylines.

Note: Slang should be avoided even in the lighter sections.

Crowd estimate

As every writer who has covered a public meeting or a protest march knows,

crowd estimates are extremely difficult to make with any degree of

accuracy. It is best to ask – but organisers will invariably exaggerate.

Policemen providing security are a better bet for honest figures. In any case,

it is always better to quote the source while providing a crowd figure.

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Currency

The first time a sum of money is referred to in foreign currency in any story;

its rupee equivalent must be mentioned in brackets. The commonest

currencies that occur in copy are the US dollar, the British pound and the

European Union‘s Euro, the rough and ready exchange rate for these

presently being: $ 1 = Rs 45, 1 pound = Rs 69, 1 euro = Rs 61. Thereafter, if

more sums of money in the same currency are referred to, no converted

rupee value need be given. But if a different currency is mentioned, a

one-time rupee equivalent must be given.

The ‗$‘ sign refers to the US dollar. If dollars of any other country are

referred to (Australian, Canadian, Singaporean, etc) the appropriate symbol

is A$, C$, S$ etc respectively.

D.

Dates

To avoid confusion, all dates must be set down in the order of Month, Day

and Year, with the month spelt out, and a comma after the day if the year is

mentioned as well. The form is January 16, 2007. The PRactice does not use

January 16th, 2007, or 1/16/2007. Thus the fateful day when the Twin

Towers in New York were brought down must always be referred to as

‗September 11‘. Exceptions to this rule may be made as in 9/11 in a

headline.

Also note: In this example, most Indians would understand by 9/11 as ‗the

ninth of November‘.

Months may be mentioned in their abbreviated form in headlines, never in

body copy.

Dateline

The dateline, giving the spot being reported from, followed by the date,

should be in Roman, just below the byline and above the start of the body

copy. This is another design template and can be altered / tweaked

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Dateline integrity is essential for news credibility. It is also a guarantee that

the story or byline of the author which appears just above, was at the

specified place on the date given, or in many cases a record of a particular

transaction, announcement or event on a particular day.

Designations, Positions held, Titles

If a designation is short, comprising one or two words, it can precede the

name of the person who holds it. Thus it is Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh, Defence Minister A. K. Anthony, Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental,

etc. But if the designation comprises more than two words, or even needs to

be elaborated upon, it should always come after the name. Examples:

Renuka Chowdhury, Minister for Woman and Child Development, Deepak

Pental, Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman

and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. If a short form is used – PM,

SSP, CEO, etc – it can precede the name, except for ‗MP‘ and ‗MLA/MLC‘,

which always goes after the name.

The first letter of every important word in a designation or position should

be in capitals. For example, Lord Meghnad Desai, Commerce Minister

Kamal Nath, and so on.

H.

Headlines

Headlines are read more than anything else in a news copy, press release or

bylined article. Obviously as much care as possible (given the inevitable

time constraint!) should be lavished on them.

Most important: a headline should faithfully reflect the content of the body

copy. Smart, pithy headlines are certainly welcome, but not at the cost of

accuracy.

Above all, responsible headlines ensure we never exaggerate or

sensationalize and boost credibility. In the matter of the death tolls in

particular, following a natural disaster, accident, riot or a huge business

deal/transaction or market movement and such similar examples, it is better

to err on the side of caution.

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Clichés and worn out catchphrases in headlines should be avoided at all

costs.

In two-tier or three-tier headlines, appropriate words should be used so that

very little white space (or none) is left over in each line.

Hindi (Indian) Words

The use of Hindi words – and those from other Indian languages – without

putting them in italics, or providing a glossary, has grown increasingly

prevalent in Indian writing of late, especially the writings of successful

Indian-English novelists. At The PRactice, however, the rule is: only those

Hindi words are permissible which have no exact equivalent in English.

There are many such. To list some at random: names of flowers, trees,

animals, birds peculiar to India; names of culinary dishes, items of clothing,

religious rituals, religious figures, religious expressions, festivals, wedding

rituals, which originated in, or belong to India alone; names of castes, tribes

and ethnic communities, of art forms, musical instruments and musical

forms, market jargon/lingo peculiar to Dalal St etc, etc. Kinship terms are

another vast area – English has very few of them.

If the word used is part of everyday ‗Hinglish‘ speech, it can be put in

without italics or explanation. If it is not, italics should be employed and the

word‘s meaning explained in brackets.

When there does exist an exact English equivalent to the Hindi word, it

should always be preferred. ‗Maternal uncle‘ should prevail over ‗mama‘.

The use of Hindi words merely to convey the ambience or flavour of the

scene being reported on is not encouraged. If at all they are used – while

reporting direct speech, for instance – they should be in italics, and their

English meaning should be provided in brackets. ‗Stardust-lingo‘ is an

absolute no-no.

For headlines and straplines, the above rules can be relaxed a bit, especially

if this results in creative word play.

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Hyphens

There are no fixed rules to decide which words should be hyphenated and

which should not. It is best to consult a standard dictionary. In any case,

present day writing allows much flexibility and choice in the matter of

hyphens – there are writers who simply turn the hyphenated word into one

word (or two!) and have dispensed with the hyphen altogether (and their

writing is none the worse for it).

A few broad guidelines on hyphens are given below, but there are exceptions

to each rule, nor are the guidelines exhaustive.

1. Words beginning with the following usually use a hyphen: agri, anti,

counter, extra, half, inter, mid, multi, non, post, pre, semi, ultra. (But then

there is ‗agriculture‘, ‗antiseptic‘ etc – without hyphens!)

2. Certain titles: Field-Marshal, Secretary-General, Vice-President.

3. Adjectives comprising two or more words: 30-year-old businessman, left-

wing propaganda, value-added tax.

4. Words in which two identical letters occur one after the other and need to

be kept separate: book-keeping, co-operate, pre-empt, etc (But what about

overrule, withhold?)

5. Three words which go together: mother-in-law, commander-in-chief.

6. Nouns formed by prepositional verbs: buy-out, stand-off

Hyphens are a very confusing area of the English language, where rules are

constantly changing too. ―If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go

mad,‖ says the Oxford University Press style manual. The bottom line

(bottom-line?) at the newspaper is that no heads will roll if hyphens are

found missing, or even if one has been used where it should not have been.

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I.

Impartiality

Innuendoes have no place in The PRactice stylebook. If a charge cannot be

made outright, it should not be made at all.

Indianisms

Some of the uniquely Indian usages of the English language are finding their

way into dictionaries and scholarly dissertations, but the newspaper would

still prefer to maintain its distance from them. Expressions like ‗prepone‘,

‗pin drop silence‘, ‗serious‘ (for seriously ill), ‗wheatish complexion‘ (there

are many dozens more) still do not look respectable in print, and should be

avoided.

So too the last remnants of archaic, colonial-era English – which the British

themselves have long discarded – persist in India and Indian journalism,

though less so than in the past. Care should be taken to see that words like

‗miscreants‘, ‗eve teasing‘, ‗concubine‘ and so on, never find place in The

PRactice content.

Italics

All words from languages other than English should be in italics, except – as

noted earlier – Hindi words which have no English counterpart, and are also

easily understood by the majority of people. Words originally from foreign

languages, but now entirely Anglicised – restaurant, rendezvous, bourgeois,

and so forth – should obviously not be italicised.

Technical and scientific names, of trees or viruses or whatever, usually come

from Latin and should be in italics. So too should other Latin expressions

often used in English like Homo sapiens and E. coli.

All names of newspapers and magazines should be in italics. For a

newspaper, generally, a definite article should precede its name, which

however, should be in plain roman script (without italics).

Thus: the Indian Express, the Times of India, the Hindustan Times etc, etc.

For magazines and other publications, however, the definite article is

14

dropped, unless it is part of the periodical‘s name, when it too should be in

italics. Thus: India Today, Outlook, The Week.

All names of books, pamphlets, films, radio and television channels, radio

and television programmes and shows, should be italicised.

N.

Names and titles

The PRactice sets down a person‘s full name at first reference in a story, and

thereafter use the surname. The surname alone must be used, and not the

first name, except if – as is often the case with people from the world of

entertainment – the first name is more familiar to readers. (Thus it is

‗Hrithik‘ for Hrithik Roshan, ‗Aishwarya‘ for Aishwarya Rai.) Even alleged

or convicted criminals – Dawood Ibrahim, Moninder Singh Pandher, and

Manu Sharma – should be referred to by their surnames after first mention,

not their first names.

An exception, however, has to be made in stories about people from the

same family (say a piece on Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka

Gandhi) when first names may be used to distinguish between them. If two

or more people in a story merely share the same surname – say, Manmohan

Singh and Arjun Singh, or Aamir, Shakhrukh, Salman and Saif Ali Khan –

the entire name must be used each time, first name alone will not do.

In the case of headlines, exceptions can be made, especially when referring

to movie or television stars (‗Abhi-Ash‘ and so forth).

As for titles, courtesy titles like Mr, Mrs, Ms, Prof, etc are used either at first

reference to an individual and not at any point thereafter. The only

exceptions are medical doctors whose names should be prefixed with Dr.

(Ph. D. holders are not entitled to this privilege.)

Numerals

Numerals from one to nine must be written out in words; 10 and above, in

figures. If a sentence begins with a numeral, the latter has to be spelt out in

words, no matter how large it is. If a number has a decimal point, it should

always be represented in figures, even if it less than nine (Example: 6.8) If

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the number is less than one, the decimal point should have ‗zero‘ before it

(Example: 0.89).

When setting down percentages or ratios, whole numbers below 10 can also

be written in numerals: ‗6 per cent‘, not ‗six per cent‘, ‗3:5‘, not ‗three is to

five‘.

In our content, ‗lakh‘ and ‗crore‘ when preceded by a numeral, do not take

the plural form, the same way ‗thousand‘ or ‗million‘ do not. (It should

always be 20 lakh, not 20 lakhs.) However, when there is no specific

numeral, the plural form is used (Example: crores of rupees were lost).

The same applies to ‗kilometre‘ and ‗kilogram‘; an example here is ‗25 km

away‘; not ‗25 kms away‘.

The metric system of measurement is followed. All distances should be in

centimetre, metre and kilometer, all weights in gram and kilogram, all

volumes in millilitre and litre, all areas in acre or square metre or square km.

Mathematical symbols should be avoided as far as possible. When providing

percentages the symbol should never be used, not even in a headline or an

infographic. It should always be ‗per cent‘, or if abbreviation in a headline is

required, pc.

O.

Obscenity

The PRactice is not prudish. Anything and everything can be discussed, be it

sexual behaviour, censorship, advances in biological sciences, or sex crimes.

But the language employed will always be clinical, not coarse. Offensive

words, four-lettered or otherwise, are not permitted. On photographs,

editorial decisions will be taken on a case by case basis whenever the need

arises.

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P.

Political Correctness & Social Sensitiveness

Political correctness is desirable. Even 15 years ago, the Scheduled Castes

were routinely referred to as ‗Harijans‘; that term is now redundant and

found patronising, they prefer to call themselves ‗Dalits‘. The physically and

mentally handicapped now prefer to call themselves physically or mentally

‗challenged‘. The PRactice must adjust its terminology accordingly.

The names of some Indian cities too have lately been altered, the latest being

a number of changes in Karnataka, led by ‗Bangalore‘ turning into

‗Bengaluru‘. It happens worldwide as well – Peking becoming Beijing,

Rangoon, Yangon. The Congo Republic changed its name to Zaire, and is

now back to calling itself ‗the Democratic Republic of Congo‘. Such

changes are invariably in response to regional or national sentiments and

should be respected. The PRactice must adopt all the new names.

In reports of communal clashes, it has for long been a convention in India to

use the term ‗members of a particular community‘, without specifying if

they are Hindus or Muslims, while discussing the cause of rioting, or the

death toll. This does lead to some obfuscation, and has been discarded lately

by certain publications, but The PRactice, given its persistence to remain

sensitive to all issues will continue with it.

In general, pejorative or derogatory references to any group or community,

including those the progressive sections disapprove of – politicians, large

business houses, upper castes, rural landlords - should be strictly avoided. It

is important to keep a sharp eye out for statements – even if they are

attributed to named sources – which reinforce stereotypes or perpetuate

prejudices, and remove them before a story is printed.

Similarly, an individual accused of a crime is merely a suspect until he has

been convicted. Reports of crime or criminal trials must remain forever

conscious of this, with the term ‗alleged‘ being frequently employed in

them.

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Punctuation

Full stop:

Apart from ending a sentence, a full stop should be used after every initial in

a person‘s name. Full stops should not be used after every individual letter in

an abbreviation or acronym, or even at the end. An abbreviated title like ‗Dr‘

(for Doctor) need not have a full stop after it. Contractions of words – Jan,

govt – are only allowed sparingly in headlines, not in body copy of press

releases. But they too need not have full stops after them.

Apostrophe:

Word (or figure) contractions that require the use of an apostrophe to

indicate missing letters (or numbers) are not permitted, either in headlines or

body copy. (Expressions like ‗can‘t‘, ‗shouldn‘t‘, ‘07, should be used as

sparingly as possible, except when reproducing direct speech – it should

always be ‗cannot‘, ‗should not‘, ‗2007‘.) In most print platforms, an

apostrophe is only used to indicate possession (Ram‘s book, Jones‘s house).

Inverted Commas:

Double inverted commas should be used only when reporting direct speech.

In all other cases, single inverted commas should be employed. In headlines,

single inverted commas alone should be used.

Q.

Quotes

Direct quotes are essential in news stories, but they should be used to take

the story forward. They should not merely repeat what the writer has set

down as factual information in the preceding sentence. They should also

sound like direct speech. Complicated figures, complex technical details,

convoluted legal arguments, should not be put within inverted commas, but

set down as information, with the source identified.

Quotes should also be handled with great care and respect. They should

never be distorted. What a person actually utters can of course be shortened

in the interests of brevity, but not even a shade of meaning should be altered.

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When quoting from a printed text or any kind of document, the breaks

should be made very clear with the use of three dots. If explanatory words or

phrases need to be inserted, these should always be in brackets.

S.

Spellings

The PRactice follows British spellings, not American. The main differences

are:

(a) Words in British English may contain composite vowels ‗ae‘ or ‗oe‘ – as

in diarrhoea, gynaecology, and homoeopathy – which American English

rarely does. In the latter form, these words would be ‗diarrhea, gynecology,

and homeopathy.

(b) British English prefers ‗ce‘ even when the pronunciation is ‗se‘ as in

offence, defence, advice, and practice (as a noun); with ‗se‘ as a verb.

American English has ‗offense‘, ‗defense‘, advise, ‗practise‘ (both as noun

and verb)

(c) One glaring difference is over ‗ise‘ (or ‗yse‘) and ‗ize‘ (or ‗yze‘) –

British English uses the former, American English the latter. ‗Realise‘,

‗paralyse‘, ‗sensitise‘ etc are British spellings, ‗realize‘, ‗paralyze‘,

‗sensitize‘, American. (Of course there are some words ending in ‗ise‘ which

remain the same even in American English – advertise, revise, etc.)

(d) British English often has superfluous letters (which contribute little or

nothing to the pronunciation) within or at the end of words, which the

American version excises. It is ‗programme‘ ,‗catalogue‘, colour, likeable,

demeanour etc in British English, ‗program‘, ‗catalog‘, color, likable,

demeanor in American. However, ‗computer program‘ is spelt just that way,

even in British English.

(e) Words ending in‗re‘ in British English change to ‗er‘ in American:

theatre, centre, become ‗theater‘, ‗center‘.

(f) ‗Gray‘ is American spelling, ‗grey‘ is British.

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Part Two: Common Errors

A.

Articles

Whenever the indefinite article has to be employed, ‗a‘ is used before words

beginning with a consonant, and ‗an‘ before words beginning with a vowel.

Errors arise because of the exceptions.

(a) Words starting with a silent ‗h‘ are preceded by ‗an‘, though ‗h‘ is a

consonant - an heir, an hour, an honour.

(b) Certain words starting with vowels still require ‗a‘, not ‗an‘ before them,

specially when the starting letter has a ‗y‘ or ‗u‘ sound – ‗a ear‘, a European,

a university.

The real challenge, however, is deciding when to use an article before a

noun, and when not to. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are

no articles in most of the Indian languages; our mother tongues provide no

guidance or pointers. Should we say ‗Police have caught the thieves‘ or ‗the

police have caught the thieves‘? The latter is correct. Should we say

‗Inflation was 6 per cent last week‘ or ‗the inflation was 6 per cent last

week‘? The former is correct.

It is simply a question of usage. Some English grammar books provide a

welter of innumerable rules on the use of articles, but ultimately one has to

go simply by what sounds right.

Accept, except

‗Accept‘ is to take or receive, ‗except‘ is to leave out.

Advice, advise

‗Advice‘ is the noun, ‗advise‘ is the verb; so too with ‗practice‘ and

‗practise‘.

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Affect, effect

‗Affect‘ means to influence; ‗effect‘ means outcome or consequence.

Allude, refer

‗Allude‘ means to refer to in passing, ‗refer‘ means to make a direct

reference. So too ‗allusion‘ means a passing reference, ‗illusion‘ is a

mistaken impression.

Alternate, alternative

‗Alternate‘ means two people taking turns at doing something; ‗alternative‘

means a choice between two options.

Among, between

‗Between‘ is used while referring to just two choices; ‗among‘, when the

choices are more than two.

Anyone, any one

Is that one word or two? Depends on the context. Eg ―Anyone can criticize,

but it has to be seen if any one of those who do, can perform better.‖ Same

goes for ‗every one‘ and ‗everyone‘.

Appeal

The verb always takes a preposition. One appeals against something, or

appeals to someone, one does not simply appeal (except while bowling or

fielding in cricket).

B.

Beside, besides

‗Beside‘ means ‗by the side of‘ or ‗next to‘. Eg: He sat beside me. ‗Besides‘

means ‗in addition to‘. Eg: He is an excellent worker; besides he is always

punctual.

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Billion

Billion is 1000 million, or 100 crore

Both

‗Both sides agreed‘ is a tautology (like ‗6 pm in the evening‘). It should be

‗both agreed‘ or ‗the two sides agreed‘.

C.

Canvas, canvass

One paints on a canvas, but one has to canvass for votes.

Collective Nouns

Most collective nouns take singular verbs – ‗The crowd is large‘, etc – but

there are a few exceptions: ‗a couple‘, ‗the police‘ ‗Team India‘ (the Indian

cricket team), though usually ‗team‘ takes a singular verb.

Comparisons

Comparisons should be exact, like with like. ―The power crisis today is more

acute than 10 years ago‖ or ―Air fares now are often lower than second class

AC train travel‖ are wrong usages. They should read ―The power crisis

today is more acute than it was 10 years ago‖ or ―Air fares now are often

lower than second class AC train fares‖.

Comprise

The use of the preposition ‗of‘ after ‗comprise‘ is incorrect.

Consult

The use of the preposition ‗with‘ after ‗consult‘ is incorrect.

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Continual, continuous

‗Continual‘ means frequent or repeated. ‗Continuous‘ means without

stopping even once, uninterrupted. There is a big difference, for instance,

between ‗continual rain‘ and ‗continuous rain‘.

Credible, credulous

‗Credible‘ means believable, and is the antonym of ‗incredible‘. ‗Credulous‘

means naïve, one who will believe anything.

D.

Device, devise

‗Device‘ is the noun; ‗devise‘ is the verb.

Differ with, differ from

‗Differ with‘ is only used in the context of having a difference of opinion

with another person. ‗Differ from‘ can also be used in this context, as well as

in the sense of being different from somebody else. ‗I differ from my brother

in that he is very loquacious, while I am not.‘ ‗Differ with‘ cannot be used in

this context.

Disinterested, uninterested

‗Disinterested‘ means ‗impartial‘, ‗neutral‘. ‗Uninterested‘ means ‗not

interested‘.

Dispatch, despatch

‗Dispatch‘ can be used both as noun and verb. ‗Despatch‘ is used only as a

verb. It is preferable to use ‗dispatch‘ at all times.

Distinct, distinctive

‗Distinct‘ means ‗clear, separate, and well defined‘. ‗Distinctive‘ is a quality

that distinguishes a particular thing from all others.

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Due to

‗Due to‘ can only modify a noun or pronoun, not a verb. Thus ‗My absence

(from work) was due to illness‘ is correct, but ‗I was absent (from work) due

to illness‘ is incorrect. ‗Owing to‘ or ‗because of‘ should be used in the

second instance.

E.

Each other, one another

‗Each other‘ is used when only two people or groups are referred to; ‗one

another‘ when there are more than two. ‗Ram and Shyam did not speak to

each other‘; ‗Ram, Shyam and Hari did not speak to one another‘.

Either

‗Either‘ can be used only when there is a choice between two alternatives,

not more than two. ‗You can either walk or take a bus‘ is fine, but ‗you can

either walk, or take the bus, or go by auto‘ is wrong.

Emerge

News does not emerge, so expressions like ‗It has emerged that…‘ should be

avoided.

Emigrate, immigrate

To ‗emigrate‘ is to leave a country permanently. To ‗immigrate‘ is to enter

into a new country permanently.

Equal

Two things are either equal or they are not. It is incorrect to say ‗more or

less equal‘.

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Ever

Should not be used with a superlative (‗longest ever‘, ‗best ever‘, etc) since

that amounts to a tautology.

Every day, everyday

Two words or one? Usually two, but one if the expression is used as an

adjective. ‗Their fights are an everyday affair.‘

Evoke, invoke

‗Evoke‘ is to bring to mind (‗It evoked memories of…). ‗Invoke‘ is to

solemnly call upon (‗Invoke the name of the lord‘)

F.

Fewer, less

Depends on usage, though usually ‘fewer‘ is used when referring to

numbers, ‗less‘ when referring to quantities. Eg: ‗There were fewer than 10

people in the room‘; ‗They will not sell less than a kilo‘.

Fortuitous

‗Fortuitous‘ means ‗by chance‘, it does not mean ‗by lucky chance‘ or

‗fortunate‘.

Future plan

A tautology. ‗Plan‘ is enough.

I.

Include, comprise

‗Include‘ is used when only some of the elements or components of a group

or a body are mentioned; ‗comprise‘ when all of them are. Eg: ‗The seven

sisters of the North East include Nagaland and Mizoram‘, but ‗The seven

sisters of the North East comprise Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland,

Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.

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Its, It’s

‗It‘s‘ is a contracted form of ‗it is‘. In all other cases, the apostrophe is not

used.

L.

Licence, license

‗Licence‘ is the noun (‗driving licence‘), ‗license‘, the verb (‗licensed to

kill‘).

Like, as

‗Like‘ is used while comparing nouns or pronouns: ‗He acted like a fool‘.

‗As‘ is used when comparing verbs: ‗He acted as fools do.‘

Like, such as

In this context ‗like‘ means ‗similar to‘. ‗Such as‘ is used while offering an

example. There is a difference in meaning for instance, between the sentence

‗Politicians like Lalu Prasad always offer good sound bytes‘ and ‗Politicians

such as Lalu Prasad always offer good sound bytes,‘ though both are

grammatically correct. (The second implies all politicians give good quotes.)

M.

May, can

‗May‘ is used while seeking permission, ‗can‘ relates to the ability to do

something. There is a big difference in meaning thus between ‗May I sit

down?‘ and ‗Can I sit down?‘

N.

Names

It is extremely important to ensure that every name that appears in the

newspaper or documents is spelt correctly – that is, in just the way the

person named spells it. Thus it is Shashi Kapoor, but Shekhar Kapur – and

so forth. If a person chooses to change the spelling of his or her name – for

26

numerological or whatever reasons, we follow suit whenever it names him.

For instance: Laloo Prasad Yadav to Lalu Prasad Yadav to just Lalu Prasad.

There are reliable sites on the Internet at which the names of all well known,

important or powerful people – the kind that mostly figure in newspaper

columns – can be checked. Whenever in doubt, it is important to do so.

The same goes for the proper names of places, mountains, rivers, etc, etc.

Neither, nor

If ‗neither‘ is used in a sentence, ‗nor‘ must follow at some point soon after.

The use of ‗or‘ in this context, instead of ‗nor‘ is incorrect. ‗Neither …nor‘

can govern only two elements, not more. For instance: ‗Neither Yadavs nor

Dalits voted for the Congress in UP‘. To say ‗Neither Yadavs nor Dalits nor

Muslims voted for the Congress in UP‘ would be incorrect.

O.

Only

‗Only‘ is used only (!!) before the word or phrase it qualifies. It should not

come after. It should not end a sentence. It is easy to mock Indian English

expressions like ‗We are like that only‘, but even saying ‗I want one

sandwich only‘ is wrong. It should be ‗I want only one sandwich‘.

P.

Past

The word is often used when it is actually redundant. Eg: past history, past

record.

It is also not a synonym for ‗last‘. ‗I have been depressed for the past two

days‘ is strictly speaking, incorrect usage.

Pressure

The verb relating to ‗pressure‘ is ‗pressure‘, not ‗pressurise‘. ―He was

pressurised into signing the document‘ is wrong, it should be ‗he was

pressured into signing the document‘.

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Protest

It is better to avoid expressions like ‗holding a protest‘ or ‗staging a protest‘.

It should be ‗holding a demonstration‘ or ‗staging a protest rally‘ (or ‗protest

march‘)

S.

Silicon, silicone

‗Silicon‘ chip, but ‗silicone‘ implants

Single out

Should refer to only one person or thing. ‗He singled out Chappell and

Dravid as the main culprits for our World Cup fiasco‘ is wrong.

Spellings

With ‗Spell check‘ and ‗dictionary.refernce.com‘ available at the click of a

mouse, spelling errors are now utterly inexcusable. Even so, a list of a few

commonly mis-spelled words is given below.

Incorrect Correct

Argueable arguable

Absess abscess

Accessable accessible

Aging ageing

Alright all right

Ambiance ambience

Anymore any more

Any where anywhere

Bellweather bellwether

Best seller bestseller

Convenor convener

Desperete desperate

Indispensible indispensable

Keeness keenness

Labelling labeling

Likable likeable

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Milage mileage

Occured occurred

Sieze seize

Threshhold threshold

Withold withhold

V.

Valuable, invaluable

They are not antonyms. ‗Valuable‘ means something of high worth,

‗invaluable‘ means something of still higher worth, priceless, whose value

cannot be measured.

Part Three: Better Writing

Grammatically correct English is only the starting point for good writing. It

is necessary, but by no means sufficient. Good writing calls for much more:

clear thinking; complete mastery over the subject being written about; a

sharp ear for the sounds of words (‗euphony‘) while stringing them together

into sentences; a flair for the arresting, original turn of phrase; for the apt

image or metaphor; an ability to pin down and use the precisely apposite

word in a particular context, and none other (which in turn requires a

substantial vocabulary), and so on. It is impossible to compile a

comprehensive list of the ‗rules of good writing‘.

However, aiming at excessively high standards while writing – or editing – a

newspaper report is neither necessary nor desirable. Meeting the deadline is

far more important than producing clever turns of phrase or euphonic prose.

Only two features of all good writing are essential in news writing – clarity

and conciseness. Given our fast paced, distraction-ridden age, the meaning

of every sentence in a newspaper report must be crystal clear to the reader

even at a first, hurried reading. For the same reason, whatever information

has to be conveyed must be done in the fewest words possible.

A few pointers towards improved writing follow, with the caveat that these

are only guidelines, not instructions. As the last rule in George Orwell‘s

much quoted six rules for good writing goes: ‗Break any of these rules

sooner than say anything utterly barbaric.‘

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1. Avoid repetition

The first step to concise writing is avoiding repetition. Care should be taken

to see that no fact, however crucial, is mentioned more than once in a news

story, even for emphasis. Even insignificant facts should never find place in

a report more than once.

In particular, no part of the information already provided in the first para of a

news report, for instance, should be repeated while adding background and

context or quotes a few paras later.

Again (as noted in the first section) direct quotes should take a story

forward. All too often a direct quote attributed to a source, merely repeats

information that has already been provided by the author of the report – in

paraphrased form, minus the quotes – in the preceding sentence. This should

be avoided.

Not only facts, but also the same words and expressions should not be

repeated too often, too close to each other, in a news report, barring the

smaller prepositions and conjunctions. Synonyms, if available, should be

employed (obviously taking care not to distort meaning), or else sentences

can be recast to prevent key words from recurring in the copy.

(The only exception is the verb ‗said‘ or ‗says‘, used while quoting a source.

Although there is no ban on using synonyms for ‗said‘ – stated, noted,

declared, maintained, pointed out, etc, etc – the repeated use of ‗said‘ is

perfectly okay.)

Where headlines are concerned, this particular guideline has to be taken

much more seriously. No exception can be made even for ‗said‘ or ‗says‘.

Unless deliberate wordplay is intended, the same word (barring at best

articles or two letter words) should never be used more than once in a

headline. If a story has a slug, strap-line or short introduction as well as a

headline, care should be taken to avoid using the same word in any of these.

Indeed it is preferable that the individual words used in one headline on a

newspaper page are not repeated in any of the other headlines on that

particular page as well.

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2. Avoid superfluous words

Lean, mean writing is essential to reporting. Every piece of information

should be provided in the fewest words possible. Any word or expression

that can be dispensed with, without sacrificing meaning or grammar or

information, should be. The effort should be to write – and edit – stories in

such a way that they simply cannot be condensed further, even by a single

word.

Listed are a few representative examples of how expressions can be

shortened and superfluous words excised.

An expert in the field of macroeconomics – a macroeconomics expert

The process of industrialisation has taken its toll – industrialisation

has taken its toll

The volume of demand has fallen – demand has fallen

Demand has a tendency to rise in the festival season – demand rises in

the festival season

It is necessary to make reductions in energy consumption – it is

necessary to reduce energy consumption

We need to provide a summary of the day‘s events – we need to

summarise the day‘s events

There are some people who never listen to others – some people never

listen to others

It appears that North Korea will eventually compromise – North

Korea will eventually compromise

The people who are located in that village have no choice – the people

in that village have no choice

The tasks that are involved in bringing out a paper are many – the

tasks in bringing out a newspaper are many

And so forth.

3. Choose the better word

When there are many synonyms to choose from, here a few broad

guidelines:

(a) Choose short words over long:

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* Instead of ‗accomplish‘, use ‗do‘

* Instead of ‗several‘, use ‗many‘

* Instead of ‗component‘, use ‗part‘

* Instead of ‗facilitate‘, use ‗help‘

* Instead of ‗manufacture‘, use ‗make‘

(b) Use concrete words instead of abstract ones

* Instead of ‗motivation‘, use ‗drive‘

* Instead of ‗population‘, use ‗people‘

* Instead of ‗vehicle‘, use ‗car‘ (or truck or bus)

(c) Prefer familiar words to unfamiliar, everyday language to jargon (even if

the former, in both cases, is the longer word)

* Instead of ‗prioritise‘, use ‗give priority to‘

* Instead of ‗amentia‘, use ‗mental retardation‘

However, there can be contexts in which the longer, the unfamiliar or the

abstract word turns out to be the apposite one. In such cases, exceptions

should be made.

4. Keep sentences short

The objective – as noted earlier - is to make every news report perfectly

intelligible at first reading. This is much easier to do if individual sentences

are kept short. It is true that the works of many great writers are full of

extremely long sentences, stretching sometimes across half the page of a

book or more. Yet the writing remains perfectly lucid. But that is because

they are great writers; pulling this off calls for enormous talent and writing

skill. It is safer for us lesser mortals - working under deadline pressures to

boot - not to try and emulate them.

Too often peoples are tempted to try and include all the crucial newsworthy

facts they have unearthed in the very first sentence of their copy. This is

based on the belief that this creates maximum impact. But usually the

opposite occurs - the first sentence stretches interminably, leaving the reader

breathless and confused. There is no need for this: it is enough if all the

newsworthy points in the story are included in the first paragraph.

32

There are some publications – and teachers in journalism schools – who

believe that a word limit should be imposed on sentences. Some suggest 16

words per sentence as the maximum that should be permitted; some bring

the figure down to 10. While there is no need to be so rigid, short sentences

should be the norm.

5. Prefer active to passive voice

If the subject of a sentence acts, the voice is active. If the subject is acted

upon, the voice is passive. The active voice is usually livelier, shorter and

more direct – and thus much better at grabbing eyeballs than the passive one.

Examples:

Passive voice:

The CBI said the Nithari murders were committed by Surendra Koli alone,

not by Mohinder Singh Pandher.

Active voice:

The CBI said Surendra Koli alone committed the murders, not Mohinder

Singh Pandher.

Passive voice:

The bill will have to be approved by both houses of Parliament before it

becomes law.

Active voice:

Both houses of Parliament will have to approve the bill before it becomes

law.

And so forth. The telltale signs for recognising the passive voice are the use

of some variation of an auxiliary verb (was, will be, have been, is being) and

a past participle.

6. Avoid using clichés

33

Clichés make for perfectly correct English, and often fit very well into a

particular context. Yet they are to be avoided as much as possible, because

due to their overuse, they have long ceased to make any impact on the

reader. Headings in particular should be totally cliché-free.

Clichés, however, are not only the traditional, hoary ones, which everyone

recognises (‗leave no stone unturned‘, ‗lock, stock and barrel, etc), but also a

host of expressions coined in recent times and thereafter mercilessly

overused. The Guardian’s style guide, for instance, even lists the following:

‗back burner‘, ‗boost‘ (massive or otherwise), ‗bouquets and brickbats‘,

‗major‘ (both ‗major‘ development as well as steel ‗major‘) ‗massive‘,

‗politically correct‘; verbs like ‗bid‘, ‗fuel‘, ‗hike‘, ‗signal‘, ‗target‘, ‗set to‘;

expressions like ‗touch base‘, 24/7s. The Reuters style guide mentions,

among others ‗top level meeting‘, ‗landmark agreement‘, ‗lone gunman‘,

‗strife torn province‘. Other British and American newspaper style guides

even knock expressions like ‗think out of the box‘, ‗it‘s not rocket science‘,

‗Generation X‘, ‗empowerment‘, ‗affirmative action‘ and many more, all of

which they hold have turned into clichés.

The fifth rule in George Orwell‘s set of six rules for good writing goes:

―Never use a metaphor, simile or any other figure of speech, which you are

used to seeing in print.‖ This is difficult under deadline pressure, but it is the

only sure-fire means of avoiding clichés.

7. Use similar constructions

When a number of words, or a number of groups of words, do the same

work in a sentence, similar constructions should be used in each case, as far

as possible.

Example:

―Jumping a red light, the use of a mobile phone while driving, tinted glasses

on car windows, all violate traffic rules.‖

Would read more smoothly as: ―Jumping a red light, using a mobile phone

while driving, tinted glasses on car windows all violate traffic rules.‖

Example:

34

―The Prime Minister, the Minister for Human Resource Development and

the Secretary in the Department of Higher Education were all present.‖

Would read more smoothly as: ―The Prime Minister, the Human Resource

Development Minister and the Higher Education Department Secretary were

all present.‖

8. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly

It is always better to show, than to tell. Greater impact is achieved if, rather

than using expressions like ‗glowing tribute‘ or ‗defiant gesture‘, one quotes

a few apt words from the tribute are quoted to bring out its quality, or

describe the gesture. Two or more adjectives before a single noun can get

positively confusing.

So too with adverbs – instead of ‗she spoke strongly‘ (against female

foeticide or caste oppression or whatever), it is better to use a direct quote

from what she said. Adjectives and adverbs both involve some measure of

being judgmental, which must be avoided.

10 COMMANDMENTS

1. Always hold accuracy sacrosanct

2. Always strive to correct an error openly

3. Always strive for balance and freedom from bias

4. Always reveal a conflict of interest to a manager

5. Always respect privileged information

6. Always protect their sources from the authorities

7. Always guard against putting your own opinion in a story without

ascertaining the client‘s view or opinion

8. Never fabricate or plagiarise

9. Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements

10. Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe

References:

35

Copying from one book is plagiarism. Copying from half a dozen is

research. By that yardstick, this style guide is the result of research!

The books the guide is indebted to are the following:

1. A Handbook of Reuters Journalism – A guide to standards, style and

operations.

2. The Guardian Style Guide

3. The Economist Style Guide – the Bestselling Guide to English Usage.

4. The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage

5. Edit Yourself: A manual for everyone who works with words by

Bruce Ross Larson, W. W. Norton and Co.

6. Grammatically Correct : The writers essential guide to punctuation,

spelling, style, usage and grammar by Anne Stillman

The PRactice Strategic Communications Private Limited

Compiled by Gaurav Bhagowati

Account Director

New Delhi – India

2010

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