Clear writing does not come by any chance

• Know your intended readers

• To express, not to impress
*Avoid long high-sounding words
*Redundancies
*Verbose phrases
*Trite expressions
*Figure of speech
*Technocratic jargons
Clear writing does not come by any chance

*Avoid adjectives
*Opt for the active rather than the passive voice

• Read, read, read; write, write, write

Clear writing does not come by any chance

• ABC of writing
*Accuracy (Kasaktuhan)
*Brevity (Kaiklian)
*Clarity (Kalinawan)
• Language issues in journalism
Formal (acrolect)
 Informal (mesolect)- conversational style
Substandard (basilect): Slang and Colloquial
Levels of Editing

• Mechanical editing (grammatical lapses)

• Substance editing (content lapses)
• Proofreading (finishing touches)
HINTS IN ELIMINATING COMPLEXITY
Hints to remember: LANGUAGE

• In writing your report, words used must fall under

American-English family not British-English
ex. Color not colour
• Vernacularization is a term referring to local words
used by the writer for target readers’ deeper
understanding
Hints to remember: SPELLING

• If a word has several accepted spelling, choose the

shortest one
ex. Judgment instead of judgement
enrolment instead of enrollment
• Check the name’s spelling, place, technical
terms/lingo/jargon, rank/designation/title
Hints to remember: NUMBERS

• 1-9 in words/spell-out
• 10-above in figures
Special cases
• Dates and address [always in figures]
• Beginning of sentence [always spelled-out]
• Events: 1st-9th is allowed [check consistency]
Hints to remember: CAPITALIZATION

• First letter of the sentence [Always!]

• Proper nouns are capitalized, common nouns are not
[ ex. Coco Martin; actor]
• Title/designation/rank/position must be in small
letters
Ex. Mr. Abraham Kyle Robien Casis, academic
coordinator
• Title is capitalized if written before the name
Ex. Governor Santos, Senator Pacquiao
Hints to remember: ABBREVIATIONS
• Dep’t., gov’t., and the likes must be spelled-out
• Abbreviations such as Jr. and Sr. are allowed
• Title or position of a person may be abbreviated if it
appears before the name but not if simply used in a
sentence
Correct usage: Engr. Rameses Pablo; Engineer Pablo
12 Payapa St.; Payapa street
 Sen. Bam Aquino filed plunder case against…
 The senator filed plunder case against…
Hints to remember: ACRONYMS

• Typically in capital letters

Ex. ABMA, DPWH, PAG-ASA, DOTC, DSWD
• Check the acronym if its in the correct order
• When an acronym appears for the first time, it is
written after its meaning and enclosed in
parentheses
Ex. Aliaga Bright Minds Academy (ABMA)
Hints to remember: PARAGRAPH

• A single simple sentence is enough per paragraph

(1 subject + 1 predicate= 1 independent clause)
• Standard no. of words per paragraph= 25-30
• One breathing system [If read, hindi hihingalin]
• BREVITY!!! [It’s not about how long, explain it
simple, reachable by general readers]
Hints to remember: LEAD (1st paragraph)

• Answers the 5Ws and 1H

• Lookout for hard-to-understand details
[Chop-down info, relocate to succeeding paragraphs]
• Limit your opening statement to 25-30 words
Hints to remember: GRAMMAR

• Tenses of verbs
• Subject-Verb Agreement (Basic of the basics)
• Articles (a, an, the)
* ‘The’ is usually used before the name of
department/agency/office/unit/division/organization
Ex. The Department of Education claims…
Hints to remember: GRAMMAR

• Note: When mentioning the person after his/her

quote, it is usually he/she said not said he/she.
Ex. “It’s a good game,” Fajardo said.
• Two-day seminar not two-days seminar
• Lasted for two days and not for two-day
Hints to remember: Using period

• To end an imperative or declarative sentence

• Used in abbreviations such as Dr., Fr., Atty., Rep.,
Gov., Gen., Capt., Sen., Jr., Sr., Pres., Corp., Inc.,
a.m., p.m.
• Acronyms of schools, organizations, and offices do
not need periods
Hints to remember: Using comma

• Separate month and day from year

• Separate the street, barangay; town and province
• Separate facts concerning victims and suspects
Ex. Roy Pascua, 17, of Cinco-cinco
• Do not use comma in separating Jr., Sr., or III from
the name
Hints to remember: Using hyphen

• In compound nouns
Ex. Officer-in-charge, editor-in-chief
• In fractions
Ex. Two-thirds, three-fourths
• In numerals
Ex. Twenty-two, fifty-eight
Hints to remember: Using quotation marks

• Use in direct quotations

• Periods and commas are written first before closing
quotation mark
Ex. “I love foods,” Vince Moreno said. “ I cannot live
without foods, foods, and foods.”
• Use to emphasize names of events, activities, books,
alias
Ex. Rey “Boom-boom” Bautista
Hints to remember: Using apostrophe

• Possessive form of the noun

Ex. Teachers’, ABMA’s
• In contractions
Ex. I’m (I am)
you’re (you are)
could’ve (could have)
Watch-out!

• Jumbled letters/words
• Proper order of paragraphs
-The Inverted Triangle structure
[Must know which comes first. Rank details from the
most important to least]
• Check for joined/disjoined words
Ex. Alia ga, Dep artment, NolideCastro, newteacher
Watch-out!

• Delete editorializing/opinionated words/phrases

Ex. The ever beautiful and outstanding school
directress Noemi Casis gave the opening remarks.
The cops were right in arresting Napoles.
• Check for redundancies (repeatedly written a word
in several paragraphs)
• End with a 30 or # sign (Indicating no more, no less)
SYMBOLS FOR COPYEDITING
• INDENT OR SET IN NEW PARAGRAPH

• NO NEW PARAGRAPH

• CAPITALIZE

• DO NOT CAPITALIZE

• ABBREVIATE OR USE FIGURES/SPELL-OUT WORDS

• TRANSPOSE

• INSERT LETTER/WORD

• DELETE LETTER/WORD

• CHANGE LETTER/WORD
• INSERT PERIOD

• INSERT COMMA

• INSERT QUOTATION MARKS

• INSERT HYPHEN

• INSERT SPACE

• CONNECT BUT LEAVE SPACE

• CLOSE-UP

• RESTORE

• CONTINUE TO NEXT PAGE more…

• END OF STORY 30 or #
HEADLINE WRITING
Crafting a good headline

• Read the whole story first

• Get idea from your LEAD [Lead summarizes the
story: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How…]
• Use shortest possible verbs
Ex. Cop-policeman; nab-arrest; up-increase
Crafting a good headline

• A single subject and a single verb will do

Ex. ABMA cops CD1 quiz tilt
Casis supports WHO
Ginebra downs Beermen
• Avoid starting with a verb; the headline sounds like giving
orders
WRONG: Revise Senior High School curriculum
CORRECT: DepEd revises SHS curriculum
Crafting a good headline

• Always in present tense [verb]

• Omit the helping verb, if the verb is in the passive
voice. Only the past participle is retained
WRONG: Drug pushers are nabbed
CORRECT: Drug pushers nabbed
Crafting a good headline

• Use the infinitive for future events

WRONG: City hall will punish drug dealers
CORRECT: City hall to punish drug dealers
• Do not use period in headline
• Omit articles (a, an, the)
WRONG: A tornado hits Benguet
CORRECT: Tornado hits Benguet
Crafting a good headline

• Use a comma instead of “and” in headline

WRONG: Delays and confusion bug PAL
CORRECT: Delays, confusion bug PAL
• Use semi-colon to separate decks
Ex. ABMA cops overall group tilt;
16 scribes to join 41st RSPC-III
Crafting a good headline

• Use single quote (‘) instead of (“) in headline

• Use dash or colon to mention the source of quote
Ex. Crackdown on errant bus firms –Enrile
Enrile: Crackdown on errant bus firms
• Use widely-known abbreviations only
• Use familiar names only
Crafting a good headline

• Use specific terms instead of general ones

Ex. Trader killed
Trader shot dead…
• Just report the facts; do not editorialize
Deck

• Number of lines your headline will have

Ex. Pacquiao lands seventh on senate;
First Filipino boxer in history as senator
= 2 decks
Traditional unit count

CAPITAL LETTER
• M, W- 2 units
• JLIFT- 1 unit
• Others- 1 ½ units
Traditional unit count

SMALL LETTERS
m, w- 1 ½ units
Jlift- ½ unit
others- 1 unit
Punctuation marks and digits

• Dash (-) – 1 ½ unit

• Question mark (?) – 1 unit
• Others- ½ unit
• 0 to 9- 1 unit
• Space- 1 unit
Try these:

• Determine the total unit count of the ff. headlines

written below:
(1) NPA kills 17 cops in Sulu clash
(2) De Lima slams critics behind PDAF allegations
(3) Curry’s trey saves the day;
Warriors claim 52nd win
Some redundancies and shorter terms

• Absolute perfection – perfection

• Before in the past – before
• Continue in existence – exist
• Free gift- gift
• New innovation – innovation
• Uncommonly strange – strange
Some wordy phrases and simpler forms

• Able to make one’s escape – escape

• Affix one’s signature – sign
• Due to the fact that – because
• First of all – first
• In spite of the fact that – although
• In the immediate vicinity – near
• Until such time that – until