The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-09-20
TO WRITER'S FOR THE NEWS
PAPERS.

George Hahn, associate city editor
! of the Brockton (Mass.) Times, is
writing series of articles on the use
of English for The American Press.
To writer's for the newspapers he
points out a few things to be avoid
ed. AS many friends contribute to
thee columns of The Citizen we be-
lieve it will prove helpful to them to
reprint what he says:
! In accounts of deaths mourn
their loss - is phrase that should
be avoided The mental state of rel
atives is understood.
Survived is another frequent
offender in death account. If you
mean to imply that the " surviving 3"
relatives were threatened by SINH
lar fate at the same time, then the
word can be used. A dead person
/ leaves relatives.
/ All deaths are sad " without
making mention of the fact. Funer-
al services are held in a house, not
from it, and the body, not the
remains" is buried, not "interr-
ed" Don't use the word " demise -
nor the trite deceased" Say he
or she was thirty years old, not "of
age" Don't refer to =" the late :"
/ VI uoC SIS lOG USdG6TS, OF
cortege for procession. Don't
say he Joined the great majority"
1t is lamentable, but fact, that
the foregoing terms exhaust the en-
tire death dealing vocabulary of
some reporters.
Marriage.
Because accounts of marriages,
like deaths, are so frequent COM
! m nnnlaanc IN, hn
/ be easily guarded against
First of all, marriages never oc-
cur y; they take place. Don't re-
fer to them as quiet unless you
mean to imply that they are usually
boisterous events. There is, proper
ly speaking, no " groom" as the
| somber persons in the conventional
garments are bride-grooms. The
man is never married to the wom-
an, but the woman to the man
Don't make mention of the blush
ing BRIDE nor describe her as
charming they all are, more or
less-but use a word less easy to
think of or describe her in some de-
tail and let the readers judge.
Avoid saying " the bride was CIV
en- many handsome presents when
in reality you mean to say that
many handsome presents were CIV
en- to the bride. Don't say 1.-THE
contracting parties" and remember
that there is no couple until the
marriage has taken place. Mention
where they will live instead of re-
side y and in house or home in
stead of in residence"
A, An and The"
EVarV nawcnanar hoe not tbo On ~, n
pet abhorrences. OF nothing is there
a greater variety of opinion than in
the use of articles in beginning stor-
les. Many editors decree that a."
an " or the must never begin a
story. Others apply the rule only
to important stories or stories de-
manding more than a small heading
(not caption -. But in an eff
fort to avoid the use of articles in
beginning a story, as well as for
other reasons, many reporters over
work the present participle
1t might be mentioned that at
least two great papers, the Chicago
Tribune and the New York Sun,
exhibit little regard as to how often
articles begin important stories. Yet
Professor Bliss Perry, editor of the
Atlantic Monthly, is quoted as fol-
lows:
The average editorial column in
the New York Sun is better written
than the average page in the At
lantic Monthly and the English of
both the Sun and the Atlantic
Monthly is better written than that
of the average book sent to those
journals for review
Ladies'"
Newspapers in smaller cities and
in towns are inclined to refer to
women as " ladies and to men as
gentlemen" All ladies" are
women, so which is the better defini-
tion? How much stronger does
Z" woman's club " sound than ia
dies circle?" Saleslady" is ri
diculous. Leave the word F" gentle
men to proprietors of cafes, halls
and other public places, who in time
will learn to use the better word If
their newspapers prove a good ex-
ample.
In reporting concerts or recitals
avoid saying Mary Jane scored "
success. The word should be re-
legated to the exclusive use of the