Journalism News Writing Skills:

Grammar and Style Rules

Introduction to English Journalism

STKIP Muhammadiyah Bogor
Dr. Li. Rizdika Mardiana, S.Si., S.Pd., M.Pd.
 Objective
Students are expected to be able to write good sentence in mass media.
Before you can be a good journalist, you must first be a good writer.
This means you must know how to put words together so that they
make sense, flow, and are correctly punctuated. Another important
element of news writing is grammar and style. Grammar is the
structure of the writing that takes into account the syntax and
linguistics, while style is the writing's
distinctive appearance and sound. Grammar is decided according to
hard and fast rules, but style is more personal and puts your mark on
the piece of work. Although very different, they are both essential to
quality work and will be discussed together in this section. Please
note that this section is meant to refresh your basic grammar skills,
and is not comprehensive.
There are few things that will turn a reader away quicker than poor writing.
Grammar is the most basic example of this: When words are misspelled, or
there is a mismatch between nouns and the proper tense of verbs, or you
have used punctuation incorrectly – you are going to lose your audience
faster than if you wrote something that offended them on a personal level.
Why? Because they'll never get to a point where they will read the content.
Poor grammar marks you as an amateur, and you won't be long for the
newsroom with that label! So let's conduct a crash course in grammar!
The basic parts of speech are nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs.
A noun is a person, place or thing.
Examples of a person: doctor, lawyer, man, woman
Examples of a place: hospital, playground, living room, outer space
Examples of a thing: toy, hammer, automobile, microscope
A noun can be singular or "one."
A noun can be plural or "more than one."
Examples of a singular noun: girl, house, pen, motor
Examples of plural nouns: girls, houses, pens, motors
A noun can be proper. That means it names something specific. They begin with capital letters.
Examples of a proper noun: Tom Jones, Mississippi, Washington Monument, Big Mac
Collective nouns are a group.
Examples of a collective noun: government, team.
If the group acts as a single entity you use a single verb. The government is in charge.
If group members act individually you use a plural verb. The team members said they will lose.
A pronoun takes the place of a noun.
Examples of subject pronouns that come before the verb: I, you, he, she, we, they, it
I am going to work. You are going to work. He is going to work. She is going to work. We are
going to work. They are going to work. It is going to work.
Examples of object pronouns that come after the verb: me, you, them, us,
Mary followed me to school. Mary followed you to school. Mary followed them to school.
Mary followed us to school. Mary followed it to school.
*Know when to use its and it's.
its shows possession.
Example: That is its home.
it's is short for the words it is.
Example: It's going to be a great day!
A verb is the action or state of being word (linking) or words in a sentence.
Example of an action verb: ran, jump, think, cry, yell
I ran up the hill. You jump on the chair. They think about their mother.
Example of a state of being verb: is, are, was, were
An adjective describes a noun.
Examples of an adjective: big, small, fast, slow, yellow,
That is a big balloon. That is a small balloon. That is a fast balloon. That is a slow balloon. That is
a yellow balloon.
An adverb modifies a verb. They often end in "ly."
Examples of an adverb: hardly, barely, sadly, simply
The motor hardly works. The motor barely works. The motor sadly works. The motor simply
works.
Punctuation are the marks in a sentence, question, or comment that clarify its meaning.
Punctuation can be likened to road signs that tell the reader when to stop, go, or slow down.
Begin each sentence with a capital letter. Trains are an interesting way to travel.
Use a period at the end of a statement. Trains are an interesting way to travel.
Use a question mark at the end of a question. Are trains an interesting way to travel?
Use an exclamation mark to indicate excitement. Trains are an interesting way to travel!
A comma ( , ) is used to indicate a pause between parts of a sentence or items in a list.
Joan bought apples, peaches, and bananas at the store.
In the scheme of things, is it more important to reflect, or to forge head on into the future?
Use a colon ( : ) at the beginning of a list or to separate a quote from the speaker.
The losers were: Thomas Paine, Henry James, and Samuel Patterson.
Judge Thompson said: "Don't drink and drive again or you will go to jail."
 Thank you
for listening!
Source: https://www.universalclass.com/articles/writing/news-writing-grammar-and-style-rules-

in-journalism.htm