Ron Johnson, an assistant journalism professor at Kansas State University, took on the role of bad cop, grilling attendees with a grammar and style quiz. Johnson led the Boot Camp session “Brushing up on AP style and advanced editing techniques.”
Johnson inventoried some of his style pet peeves:
- The words major, unique, reaction and impact -- all are overused.
- Using parentheses inside quotes -- for three reasons:
- The parenthetical detracts from the accuracy of quotes.
- It’s weak writing.
- It makes the source appear stupid.
For more on Johnson's session, see "Catch bad copy" from the ASBPE Kansas City blog.
Labels: ASBPE Educational Programs, Editing, Tips, Webinars
