Media WritingMC2010

Steve ButtrySept. 1, 2016

Today’s quizIn which of these sentences uses an active verb? A. Steve Buttry is my professor.B. Steve Buttry wrote the story.C. My assignment was received by Steve Buttry.D. Steve Buttry seems like a good professor.Email your answer to brouzan94@gmail.com.

What are the differences?•Grammar• Spelling•Capitalization•Punctuation•Word usage• Style

Grammar

Spelling

Capitalization

PunctuationWord usage

Style

Goodwriting

Active vs. passive voiceActive voice is the voice of accountability:Passive: Mistakes were made.Active: I screwed up.Passive voice is weak but not inherently wrong:Steve Buttry was murdered. Police don’t have a suspect yet. (Active voice is correct because we don’t know who did the action.)

Grammar vs. word usage & style

Steve Buttry was murdered. Police don’t have a suspect yet.

Grammatically correct, but why is “murdered” still not the correct verb?

Who/whom rule:1. Find the verb2. If the person is doing

the action of the verb, use who

3. Otherwise, use whom

Who/whom tipRewrite sentence using they or them (or he/him, she/her). If you use they (he/she), it’s who.

“Who do you trust?” sounds fine. But rewrite as “Do you trust they?” and you know it should be “Do you trust them?” So you know “Whom do you trust?” is correct.

Who/whom challengesDependent clause: “Trump wanted to fire (whomever or whoever?) leaked the rumor to the press.”“Trump wanted to fire him” seems correct.But remember the find-the-verb rule: The person is doing the action of the verb leaked, so “Trump wanted to fire whoever leaked the information to the press” is correct.

Who/whom challengesAttribution: “We will fire (whomever or whoever?) Trump says leaked the rumor to the press.”“Trump says” separates the word in question from the verb, but leaked is still the verb related to the pronoun, so whoever is still correct: “We will fire whoever Trump says leaked the rumor to the press.”

Who/whom challengesFind the right verb: “The judge, (who or whom) Trump called a Mexican, was born in Indiana.”Called is the closest verb to the pronoun, but it was Trump who called. While the pronoun is the same person who was born (the other verb), judge is the subject of that verb. Rewrite the clause: “Trump called him a Mexican.” So this is correct: “The judge, whom Trump called a Mexican, was born in Indiana.”

Singular “they”•Not yet accepted in AP style•Gaining acceptance among editors & grammarians• Singular pronouns have gender• “Everyone” may be different genders or unknown• Some don’t identify as male or female•Usage may overrule grammarians

Use strong words• “It is” (“it was,” etc.) & “There are,” (“there were,”

etc.) are grammatically correct but still weak•Why are they weak?

But sometimes they’re perfect

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

“There is no joy in Mudville.”

Seek specific wordsGrammatically correct

severalget

go/wentmakecook

Strongerseven (or six, or …)buy, steal, find …

drive, run, hike, flybuild, develop, manufacture …

bake, fry, boil, grill …

Synonyms for said• asked• answered• exclaimed• claimed• alleged• insisted• averred• shouted

• wrote• ruled• declared• related• announced• expressed• mentioned• uttered

• inquired• yelled• whispered• articulated• recounted• told• reported• estimated

• pronounced• disclosed• revealed• proclaimed• divulged• gossiped• responded• acknowledged

Your “Grammar Matter”•Choose a date (and give me a backup date, in case

someone beats you to it) starting Sept. 27•Presentation for class (slides welcome but not

necessary) on a grammar point addressed in one of the grammar books or blogs listed in the syllabus•Counts with regular writing assignments in final grade

Time to check your grammar

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