Oregon Exchanges
For the Newspaper Folk of the State of Oregon
WRITERS URGED TO WAGE CONSTANT BATTLE FOR BREVITY
By A COPYREADER
[The Author of this excellent article on newspaper English desires to remain anonymous for the present.--Editor.]
NEWSWRITING, as wit, has brevity as its soul. Make it brief, make it snappy, are admonitions dinned constantly into the ears of reporters. And when the reporter has made it as brief and snappy as he finds possible, the copy editor takes out the multitudinous verbosities to make it literally brief.
While lack of brevity is an outstanding indictment against the average reporter, others of equal importance are on file. Incorrect usage and violations of rules of grammar are found daily in copy submitted by reporters. For these no defense exists. In addition noun phrases constantly are used in stories where verb phrases would add strength; phrases of several words are used where one word would make the sentence pithy; words with one definite meaning frequently are used to denote a subordinate meaning; rules of style on individual papers are broken. These are among the more important charges against Mr. Average Reporter.
TYPICAL BITS OF WASTE
Concrete examples of various branches of the —shall we say law?—of brevity, of good usage and of grammatical rules will aid in this discussion.
First, brevity—Don’t say, “Due to the fact that the office was closed . . .” Say, “Because the office was closed . ."
Don’t say, “Figures that have been compiled show . . .” Say, “ Figures compiled show . . .” or “Compilations of figures show . . .” Don’t say, “At the present time . . ." Say, “At present . . .” Don’t say, “At the time that the boat was built . . .” Say, “ When the boat was built . . .” Don't say, “Due to the fact that . . .” Say, “Since . . .” Don’t say, “For the purpose of . . .” Say, “To.. .” _ Don’t say, “Since that time . “Since . . .” Don’t say, “In the direction of . . .” Say, “Toward . . .” Don’t say, “Was present at the time . . .” Say, “Was present when . . .” Don’t say, “Despite the fact that . . .” Say, “Although . . .” Don’t say, “Under process of construction.. .” Say, “Under construction . . .” Don’t say, “In a clever manner . . .” Say, “Cleverly . . . ' Don’t say, “In order to.. “To.. ."
THE UNNECESSARY QUALIFICATION
Use of qualifying phrases which express only what the noun itself expresses, is unnecessary. therefore superfluous, therefore in error. To say, “The year 1923.. .” or “the state of Oregon . . .” or “the month of July . . .” is as banal as to say, “Her baby son is a boy.”
Many reporters discover, and their discovery is not new, that it is easy to
