284,000-plus visits and 1.72 million-plus page views: Thanks for browsing this blog!

Today, my website tracker Statcounter reported that this blog has been visited more than 284,000 times, with a daily average of 73.7 unique visits and 13.6 repeat visitors for the last seven days. And according to Blogger.com stats, this blog now has more than 1,722,900 page views.

I started this blog in 2005 as part of my “Legal Issues and Family Matters” website. My goal in creating this blog was to write about (1) lessons on photojournalism for high school and college students and (2) topics relevant to students.

Shooting black-and-white photographs

I was a journalism teacher and yearbook adviser in Rizal High School in Pasig City from 1984 up to 1996. (In the 1990s, Rizal High School was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest high school in the world, with enrollment reaching as high as 26,000 students.) During my time in Rizal High School, I organized the Mini Press Conference from 1984 to 1991, a yearly conference attended by some 300 students from about a dozen public and private high schools in Metro Manila.

During that time, I also took more than 10,000 pictures, mostly black-and-white, with my beloved Canon AE-1 Program SLR camera and Vivitar zoom lenses (see the first picture on the right). I started with films such as Negrapan (made in Barcelona, Spain) and the locally packaged Colpan. I also tried Ilford HP 5, but later on, I primarily used Kodak Tri-X Pan because it was used exclusively by my idol, Sebastiao Salgado, the world’s best photojournalist.

Together with my students, I printed the pictures in our school’s makeshift darkroom (see the 2nd picture on the right). I used the cheap, locally-manufactured Atlas developer and fixer; for the photo paper, I primarily used Grade 3 Oriental and Agfa Portriga.

From photojournalism book to photojournalism blog

Based on some of the pictures that I took, I wrote a book on photojournalism way back in 1997. For the next two to three years, I went to numerous book publishers trying to get my book published, but to no avail. The book publishers told me that there was no market for the book.

In 2001 or 2002, a company called Pyra Labs created the “weblog,” a new platform for writing on the Internet. Pyra Labs was later on bought out by Google, which then transformed the “weblog” into the Blogger platform.

After studying basic HTML, I started this blog and several others in 2005. I rewrote the chapters of my photojournalism book so that they would fit the blog post format. I wrote 40 lessons on photojournalism for this blog. You can find the links to these lessons in the sidebar; in the post titled “Photojournalism: Introduction,” I wrote in more detail about how I learned about photography.

Since then, I have been editing these lessons to keep them up to date with developments in digital photography. I have also embedded relevant YouTube videos in some posts. (As I told a young photographer I met at the Rainforest Park in Pasig City, the techniques of photographic composition are the same whether he’s into film-based photography or digital photography.)

Synopses of Korean dramas

In 2014, I decided to broaden this blog’s goal by writing synopses of Korean dramas. The first two dramas I wrote about were the blockbuster “Empress Ki” (2013) and “The King’s Doctor” (2014). I have now written more than 70 spoiler-free synopses of Korean dramas and movies (historical and modern).

This blog’s most popular post is my synopsis of “Empress Ki,” which has more than 105K visits. The 2nd and 3rd most popular posts are “Dong Yi” (69.7K visits) and “The Flower in Prison” (69.3K visits). Most Filipinos are not familiar with “The Flower in Prison,” a 51-episode drama, because it has not been shown on any local TV network. Episode 8 of this 2016 drama had just been aired on Korean television when I decided to catch up and write a weekly synopsis for each of the remaining episodes.

Being a photographer, I love art, and so, I’ve been wanting to write the synopses for two Korean historical dramas that deal with art — “Painter of the Wind” and “Goddess of Fire.” Who knows, maybe I’ll get to write about these dramas in the future ...

“Dong Yi” (2010)

In Korea, “Jumong” was aired in 2006-2007, while “Dong Yi” was aired in 2010; both dramas became worldwide hits. A year after their respective Korean broadcasts, “Jumong” and “Dong Yi” were aired by GMA 7; they became blockbuster hits among Filipino viewers, especially “Jumong.” In 2017, I hesitated in writing my synopses of “Jumong” and “Dong Yi” because I didn’t know if people around the world were still interested in these dramas. But now, I’m happy because the Blogger.com stats show that my synopsis of “Jumong” has 62.8K page views, while my synopsis of “Dong Yi” has 69.7K views.

I’ve written synopses for eight Korean movies, some of which are “The Royal Tailor” (starring Park Shin-hye), “Masquerade” (ninth highest-grossing movie in Korean film history), “A Taxi Driver,” and “26 Years.” (The last two movies deal with the 1980s Gwangju Uprising.) The most-visited synopsis is that of “The Royal Tailor”; if you love heartbreaking romance or fashion as art, then you should watch this movie.

Based on my synopses of Korean dramas, I have written two related resources:

(1) Relationship tips from Korean historical dramas

(2) Interactive English grammar exercises based on Korean historical dramas

Discovering my love for Literature

My graduation photo from
Mandaluyong Elementary School
(2nd picture above)

After learning to speak, read, and write in English from my teachers in Mandaluyong Elementary School in the 1960s, I began reading voraciously. After waking up in the morning, I would go to the house of the Chinese business tycoon for whom my father worked as a chauffeur and read all the newspapers delivered there daily — Manila Times, Philippine Herald, etc. In the afternoons after my classes, I would wait for the Evening Post to be delivered and then read it.

Of course, as a kid, I loved the comics section more than anything in the newspapers; I loved “Mandrake the Magician,” “Phantom,” “Modesty Blaise,” and others. (From “Mandrake,” I learned the word “chivalry,” while from “Wonder Woman,” I learned the word “avalanche.”) They inspired me to begin writing my own story in English based on the Filipino comics character “Palos.”

Tintin

The tycoon had two rooms in his garage filled from floor to ceiling with magazines such as Life, Saturday Evening Post, Popular Mechanics, and Reader’s Digest. I also found there copies of the comic book “Tintin.” On weekends, I oftentimes spent the whole day inside those rooms, reading everything.

When I graduated from Mandaluyong Elementary School, I was awarded a 4-year scholarship to Rizal High School in Pasig, which was then the provincial high school. I remember going to the school library for the very first time, asking to take out a book “The Little Colonel” for my home reading report. The library became my hangout throughout my high school years; another place that became my hangout in the afternoons was the provincial library, a stone's throw away from the town plaza.

Along with science, English continued to be my favorite subject. All throughout high school, we used for our English classes the literature textbooks (“Panorama”) by Celso Al. Carunungan and a series titled “Prose and Poetry.” These books were a treasure trove for me; I remember reading from them “How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife” by Manuel Arguilla and a story by Alejandro Roces, the title of which escapes me right now.

(From Carunungan’s textbook, I remember reading a footnote about the book “Crucible” by Yay Panlilio in which she chronicled her life with the famous World War 2 guerrilla leader Agustin “Marking” Valdez. It fascinated me because, all throughout my childhood, my father told me stories about his experiences with the Marking’s Guerrillas, especially in the Ipo Dam Campaign. But sadly, I haven’t had the opportunity to read “Crucible.”)

Because of my love for reading books, newspapers, and magazines, I learned a lot about general information and current events. Thus, in the 1970s, I joined quiz contests on television such as IQ7 of Channel 7 and Pamantayan ng Talino of Channel 4. The photo above shows some of the other guys who joined quiz contests such as Vic Saymo, Dick Acacio, Jake Maderazo, Ed Garvida, Angelito Gabriel, Esmie Tellerva, Cisco Pangilinan, and Jim Bilasano. Not in the photo are the best-known guys in quiz contests: Bong Barrameda and Jose Ramon Lorenzo.

In my junior year, the journalism teacher (Miss Consolacion Constantino) took me under her wings. She assigned me to cover sports events and then patiently corrected the articles that I submitted. But none of my articles were good enough to be published in our schoolpaper.

After graduating from Rizal High School in 1973, I qualified for an engineering scholarship in UP Diliman. In my freshman year, I saw fraternity rumbles and lightning rallies by students against martial law along the corridors of Palma Hall (or simply “AS”). I also saw an old guy who hung out on the AS Bridge with the freshmen guys from San Beda and Ateneo. One time, I saw that old guy at the back of the Chem pavilion, drinking with some other guys; when I wondered aloud about who that old guy could be, my classmate exclaimed, “That's Danny Purple!”

I lost my scholarship when I failed Math 53 and Physics 41. Not knowing what course to take instead of engineering, I sought advice from the guidance and counseling office in Vinzons Hall. After the counselor reviewed my UPCAT scores (96 percentile rank in English and 94 percentile rank in science), she told me to consider either English or medicine as a course.

From UP Diliman (with a stopover in another college), I transferred to Philippine Christian University where I enrolled in the AB English program. I enjoyed the literature classes, especially the poetry classes; later, I became president of the English Club.

My Advanced Composition professor oftentimes started each class by reading a selection from the book “People” by Bob Garon. Later, I bought my own copy of “People” and began cutting out and collecting Garon’s newspaper columns.

I also bought the book “Adventures in a Forgotten Country” by Kerima Polotan, then and now, the country’s best writer of informal essays. I read through her essays, some of which are “Tarlac Dike,” “The Young Father,” and “Grandma Goes To School.” (I don’t remember if her essay “The Happy Hoi Polloi” came from this book.)

I read the short stories “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez Benitez, “Blue Skull and Dark Palms” by N.V.M. Gonzales, and “Tomorrow is a Downhill Place” by Erwin Castillo. I read Nick Joaquin’s short stories “May Day Eve,” “Candido’s Apocalypse,” and “The Order of Melchizedek.” I bought a copy of his novella “The Woman Who Had Two Navels” and carried it around all the time. During those times, I also carried around the book “Words of Science” by Isaac Azimov; his discussions on the etymology of words and phrases were fascinating. (To impress my fellow English majors, I also carried around “The Problem of Pain” by CS Lewis.)

Although I loved poetry, essays, and short stories (like “One With Shakespeare” by Martha Foley), I didn’t have a deep interest in reading novels. I couldn’t finish “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser; I just skimmed “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand; I read almost through “Of Human Bondage” by W. Somerset Maugham but couldn’t understand what it was all about; and I only read the “Grand Inquisitor” chapter of “Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoeyevsky.

The only novels that I read completely were “Exodus” and “Battle Cry” by Leon Uris, “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, “The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth, “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers, and “Cry, The Beloved Country” by Alan Paton.

I frequented numerous libraries such as the Thomas Jefferson Library in Araneta Avenue in Quezon City; the Asian Library in Roxas Boulevard; the Mass Com library in Rizal Park; the PACE library in Mandaluyong which was later on transferred to Cubao; and of course, the National Library. I remember reading “Split Level Christianity” by Fr. Jaime Bulatao in the Asian Library and the short story “The Artist of the Beautiful” by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the Thomas Jefferson Library.

In 1986, as I was preparing to take the entrance exam to the UP College of Law — the Law Aptitude Exam or simply LAE — I went to the Mass Com Library to review for the vocabulary section of the exam by reading books and magazines. I came across the word “egregious,” and to my pleasant surprise, that word appeared in the LAE. After the exam, I overheard a lot of people cursing the LAE, with some saying that they had not come across the word “egregious” before. Several months later, the results came out, and among those who passed the exam, I was ranked number 4. (Some of the other people in the top 10 were Melina Almase, Joel Yuvienco, and Gerald Baldivia.)

My journey as a writer

March 2018, I revisited UP Diliman for a 4-day MCLE seminar. Some scenes
have not changed in almost 45 years after my freshman days there.

In 1973, my very first subject in UP Diliman was English I and II, a five-unit course with Dr. Thelma Kintanar as my professor. When Dr. Kintanar went on leave for about a week, the professor who took over asked our class to write essays on any topic we wanted to write about; I was a big fan of Cat Stevens, James Taylor, and Carole King, and so I wrote about music. Later, when the professor returned our essays, she exempted me and two other students from rewriting our essays; I got the highest grade of 1.5. (Of the two other students who were exempted, one became a medical doctor and the other one, a justice of the Court of Appeals.)

In 1976 (when I was 19 years old), I became the charter president of a Kiwanis youth club known as the Circle K Club of Pasig. For about two years, our club kept in touch with our mother club composed of the adult Kiwanians from Pasig, even though our activities and projects were separate. Later on, however, we found out that our mother club was no longer active.

Somebody else had taken over from me as the club president, but in order to help the club, I went to the main office of the Kiwanis Philippines in Shangrila Makati and submitted a letter detailing our club’s history and asking the district governor to assign to us another mother club. Later on, when I met the governor (the president of an insurance company), he told me that my letter was well-written and that he would have it published in the district’s newsletter. After the meeting, I thought, “Really, my letter was well-written?”

In 1977, I got a reply-letter from Angie, a Manila Science High School graduate who was my Chem 17 classmate in UP Diliman. In that letter, she told me that I had flawless grammar and could express myself clearly. Looking back now, her comment made me realize that I had some talent for writing. Posted at the bottom portion of this post is a copy of that letter.

Click to view a bigger copy.

At the Philippine Christian University, I still didn’t know whether I had the talent for writing, although my Advanced Composition professor sometimes read for the class my compositions, and I got a grade of 1.25 in an Asian-poetry interpretation exam. (After 40-plus years, I still have that exam booklet, and I still read it from time to time.)

I began to write down on a steno pad original phrases or expressions that came to my mind, such things as “stubble of unfulfilled promise” and “I’ve had so many turning points in life that I'm now turning around in circles.”

While taking my Education units in Philippine Normal College in 1980-81, I wrote articles that I submitted, using a pen name, to the “Letters To The Editor” section of newspapers and magazines.

I applied for a part-time writing job for a Binondo-based newspaper that catered to students, but it was an embarrassing experience. It took me a whole day to write one news item, and then the editor pointed out so many of my errors. The next day, I quit.

Because of my interest in quiz contests, I wrote two or three quiz-type articles that were published in the magazines MOD and Mr. & Ms.

Click to view a bigger copy.

In 1983, I wrote for the “Sidestreets” magazine an exposé of a religious cult that published its materials in a broadsheet. In 1985 or 1986, I began contributing articles for the religion section of the broadsheet Daily Express, thanks to the section editor F. C. Borlongan.

For my masteral thesis, I began researching and writing on the topic “The Schoolteacher as Portrayed in Philippine Short Stories in English.” In my research, I found out that it was Bienvenido Santos who wrote the most number of short stories with schoolteachers as the main character; his best story about a teacher was “Dear Miss Samonte.” I also found out that in Kerima Polotan’s short story “The Sounds of Sunday,” her main character “Emma Gorrez” was a schoolteacher.

(Years before I started working on my thesis, I already knew that the main characters in two of the most well-known Philippine short stories in English were schoolteachers — Miss Noel in “Visitation of the Gods” by Gilda Cordero-Fernando and Mr. Reteche in “Zita” by Arturo B. Rotor.)

I wasn’t able to get my master’s degree, but I rewrote my proposed thesis into a magazine article. Sometime in 1984 or 1985, the article was published by Kerima Polotan in her magazine Focus Philippines. As far as I could tell, Kerima Polotan did not edit any of my words, and later on, I got paid for the article. That was quite an experience! (It’s just too bad that I lost my only copy of that Focus magazine.)

RHS yearbooks that I designed

In the 1990s when I was working on the yearbooks of Rizal High School, I oftentimes listened to country music to inspire me. I also remember taping the songs from the cult movie classic “Eddie and The Cruisers” and listening to “Tender Years” over and over again.

In terms of writing style, my greatest influences were A. W. Tozer, Max Lucado, and Philip Yancey. I’ve got about a dozen books by Yancey, (for example, “Reaching Out To The Invisible God,” “In His Image,” and “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made“). I don’t agree with everything that Yancey says in his books, but he is a brilliant writer.

In 2011, however, I adopted the Plain English style of writing. Since then, my goal in writing my blog posts has been to write as simply and as clearly as possible.

What does the future hold for me and this blog?

I continue to learn about writing; presently, I’m reading the book “Style, Toward Clarity and Grace” by Joseph Williams. Based on what I’m learning from this book, I’m revisiting my blog posts and improving them.

I don’t know if I will still be writing about photojournalism or synopses of Korean historical dramas. But I want to thank all of you for visiting this blog.



Note: While watching the K-drama “D.P.” (winner of the “Best Drama” award from the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards), I remembered the early 1970s during my high school days when I took part in the “Junior Ranger” training and my college days when I took part in the COCC training of the UP Diliman ROTC. I wrote the folowing as the introduction for my discussion of “D.P.” on reddit.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I’ve never been a soldier, but I can somewhat identify with what Jun-ho, Suk-bong, and the other characters in “D.P.” went through in their training.

As a 15 year old, 3rd year high school student in the Philippines many, many years ago, I volunteered to undergo a year-long, Saturdays-only “Junior Ranger” training in what was then the Fort Bonifacio army base. (Back then, the base had wide open spaces; now, it’s the Bonifacio Global City that’s dotted with high rise buildings, swanky malls, restaurants, and entertainment centers.) I remember one Saturday, after our training, my schoolmates and I wandered around the base until we reached the American Cemetery where 17,000 US servicemen during World War II are buried.

The “Junior Ranger” training was a project of the Jose Rizal College ROTC Department under its commandant Captain Gaerlan and was offered to the college’s nearby public and private high schools. From my high school, several hundred juniors and seniors started the training, but only around ten of us completed the training.

During the training, I handled for the very first time an M1 Garand rifle (the standard issue weapon of American GIs during World War II); I nearly tore off my right thumb as I released the bolt! When we held our training together with the ROTC cadets of Jose Rizal College, we, the Junior Rangers, were asked to assemble together with the MS 21 cadets. That was a compliment to us because the first year of the mandatory ROTC training consisted of MS 11 and MS 12, while the second year of training consisted of MS 21 and MS 22.

As we trained with the ROTC cadets, I learned how to field strip an M-16 rifle. But what stands out in my memories are when:

• I went through an obstacle course dragging along an M1 Garand rifle; the course was set around an abandoned athletic oval with hard, rocky ground; I went home with bloody bruises on my elbows and knees, after mostly crawling around the course.
  
  
• At the Jose Rizal College campus, we had to complete the river crossing training; two thick ropes were tied high above the open, cemented area. We had to slide our feet on the bottom rope and our hands on the top rope as we moved from one end to the other. Being a small guy at age 15, I was filled with terror when I nearly lost my grip on the top rope; I could have died or have been severely injured if I had lost my grip and fallen into the cemented area below.

In my first year of college in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, I had to enroll in the mandatory ROTC class; instead of simply filling out some registration forms, however, I had to duck walk my way up and down the AS Theater before I reached the table where I filled out the forms. After I told the regular army soldier who was manning the registration table that I went through the Junior Ranger training in high school, I was ordered to become part of the COCC (Cadet Officers Candidate Course). The commandant of the UP ROTC at that time was Col. Benjamin Vallejo, the founder of the ROTC ranger training in the Philippines.

In the COCC, I was lucky because our training director, Ranger Angeles (?), decided to prohibit the “hazing” of the COCC trainees. (Ranger Angeles was a cum laude graduate of Mechanical Engineering of the UP College of Engineering.) As part of the training, I learned how to field strip a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), a 30-caliber machine gun, an M1 carbine, and a Thompson submachine gun (Hello, “Chicago Typewriter”!). I also learned how to read a map; first, orient the map using a compass, and then “read right up.”

But things weren’t always smooth because there was conflict between Ranger Angeles and the other training director who wanted the old ways in training, including the hazing. I also remember one upper class officer who was so enamored with his rank and made life uncomfortable for us. A year or two later, I heard that this upper class officer joined the regular army and took part in the large-scale battles between the Philippine army and the Muslim secessionists. But the sad thing I heard was that this upper class officer was “fragged” (killed) by one of his own soldiers.

Although I passed the COCC training, I resigned as an officer the next semester. I then endured Saturdays of mindless marching from MS 12 up to MS 22. During our bivouac, we marched several kilometers from UP Diliman to the La Mesa Dam. My squad was designated as the reserve squad, and so we just hid in the tall grasses the whole day and ate our food. Later, we were ordered to supposedly join in an assault, which was more like playing a game of tag. We got lost on the mountain, and our officers didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing.

But I do remember having lots of fun one rainy Saturday when our platoon leader ordered us to assault a building behind the DSMT headquarters; my fellow cadets and I had fun sliding around the muddy and flooded grassy areas. On the bus on my way home, nobody wanted to sit beside me, ha ha!

As a high school student and as a COCC trainee, I was willing to endure through tough physical training because I was learning a lot of new things. I was lucky that “hazing” was prohibited in my COCC batch by the progressive-thinking training director. I wouldn’t have been able to endure the physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that Jun-ho and Suk-bong endured at the hands of the abusive senior enlisted men such as Hwang Jang-soo and Ryu Yi-kang. Abusive officers and enlisted men will find out that during an actual war, they’ll become the targets of the men they abused.

Early morning in UP Diliman, taken April 2018.

I was a freshman in UP way back in 1973. Ah, the 1970s, those were the best years — AS, Main Lib, Vinzons Hall, the frat rumbles, Danny Purple, Sunken Garden, ABBA, etc.

Plain English (instead of “journalese”) for the press conference contestants in news, features, editorials, columns, sci-tech, mojo, online publishing, TV-radio scriptwriting and broadcasting

Index: A. Introduction: the term “journalese“ is a put-down, not a compliment; B. The continuing relevance of George Orwell’s 1946 six rules of good writing; C. Definitions, characteristics, and effects of “journalese”; D. Elements of “journalese”: (1) stock expressions — color, humor, clichés; (2) euphemisms; (3) novel ways journalists use words — conversions, attributives, reduplication, archaisms, neologisms, modifications; (4) immediacy of style — short, vernacular words; emotive and inflated expressions; quasi-illiterate usages; innuendo; allusive punning; E. Elements of journalese as a pejorative term: (1) words, phrases, expressions that have become clichés; (2) sentence constructions that lead to complexity and confusion; (3) style of expression that does not reflect the way that ordinary people speak or write; F. Elements of journalese from The News Manual, developed by The University of Papua, New Guinea with help from the UNESCO and designed for Asian-Pacific countries: (1) jargon; (2) unnecessary words; (3) clichés; G. Examples of “journalese” or words, phrases, expressions that have become clichés (The Washington Post; Journalese; A Dictionary for Deciphering the News; The Guardian); H. Some Plain English guidelines for effective writing; I. Interactive exercises on using Plain English instead of journalese

A. Introduction: the term “journalese” is a put-down, not a compliment

Although you may find some definitions of “journalese” that are positive, it’s generally viewed negatively. For example, William Zinsser said in his classic book “On Writing Well: The Classic Guide To Nonfiction” (1976):

There is a kind of writing that might be called journalese, and it’s the death of freshness in anybody’s style. It’s the common currency of newspapers and of magazines like People—a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and clichés that have become so pervasive that a writer can hardly help using them. You must fight these phrases or you’ll sound like every hack.

What is “journalese”? It’s a quilt of instant words patched together out of other parts of speech. Adjectives are used as nouns (“greats”, “notables“). Nouns are used as verbs (“to host”), or they are chopped off to form verbs (“enthuse”, “emote”), or they are padded to form verbs (“beef up”, “put teeth into”). This is a world where eminent people are “famed” and their associates are “staffers”, where the future is always “upcoming” and someone is forever “firing off” a note. Nobody in America has sent a note or a memo or a telegram in years.

Note: Zinsser was a former professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

In “The Press Gang: The World in Journalese” (The Institute for Cultural Research, 2000), Philip Howard says that “the term is a put-down, not a compliment.” Howard then cites how Webster’s Dictionary defines the term:

“English of a style featured by use of colloquialisms, superficiality of thought or reasoning, clever or sensational presentation of material, and evidence of haste in composition, considered characteristic of newspaper writing.”

Note: Philip Howard was a distinguished British journalist and literary editor who worked for over fifty years at The Times.

From “Clichés & journalese” (The BBC News Style Guide):

Journalese comes from newspapers, which have developed a particular style to meet their own needs. Some of them have moved a very long way from standard English. Some journalists assume that newspaper English is the language of all journalism. It is not. Broadcast journalism, written for the ear, requires a different approach. Our writing has to be simpler, clearer and more natural.

Journalese is a specialist form of cliché writing. People who use it presumably want to sound urgent, to make an impact and to be, well, journalistic. Even though you are a journalist, whether in the field or in the office, try to avoid it.

From Journalese is like a poker player’s tell: it shows when a story is flimsy (New Statesman):

As George Orwell knew, the words we use shape the way we think. Perhaps all reporters should take a compilation of ’journalese’ words more seriously.

My worry with journalese is that lazy writing goes with lazy thought. If all we write about are “cabinet rifts” (two adults disagree on the solution to a complex problem – always mention that their departments are on a “collision course”) and ministerial “slapdowns” (a politician we like has been rude about a politician we dislike), we risk missing bigger stories.

Most of the strongest newspaper stories are free from journalese – they tell themselves. Journalese is like a poker player’s tell: it shows that the reporter knows the story is flimsy and he or she is trying to make it appear more solid.

From “Fluent in Journalese” (The New York Times):

This week, a guest lament from my colleague Patrick LaForge, on the stubborn persistence of journalistic clichés:

Welcome to a parallel universe. It is a world of tired news language where the verb “stir” is bound to be followed by “debate,” where those debates are always “heated” or “bitter.” In this world, anything newsworthy is automatically “controversial,” and a “hike” involves taxes, not a trail up a mountain. It is often a “hardscrabble” place, sometimes “densely wooded,”sometimes graced with “manicured” lawns and “leafy” streets. “Landmark” agreements are “hammered out” there, while adversaries are “lambasted” and “assailed.”

Meet journalese: a strained and artificial voice more common to news reports than to natural conversation. (Indeed, this “meet” device is a prime example of journalese, as is the “welcome to” construction in the previous paragraph.)

On the other hand, “Plain English” (aka “Plain Language”) is writing in such a way that readers can find what they need, understand what they find the first time they read or hear it, and use what they find to meet their needs.

From “Plain language, symbols and forms” (Washington Post):

Writing in plain language makes our content more accessible to a wide variety of people, including those with cognitive disabilities, lower reading literacy and less background knowledge of the topic or concept being covered. This also matters in the design of user interfaces.

The U.S. federal government has detailed plain language guidelines and a checklist. These are based on the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

While we are an independent media organization, a lot of the guidance is relevant to us.

In particular, we strongly recommend the following:

• be concise
• use short sentences and clear structure
• use familiar, commonly understood words
• define any uncommon words or concepts
• avoid jargon, idioms and metaphors
• avoid excessive words and punctuation
• use the simplest tense possible
• use lists and tables to simplify complex material

The Economist (UK newspaper founded in 1843) is committed to plain English:

The Economist is a “British weekly newspaper printed in magazine format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by the Economist Group, with its core editorial offices in the United States, as well as across major cities in continental Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.” In the study titled “Creating networks, creating in-groups: Choice of vocabulary in The Economist editorials,” when the author asked The Economist writers if they had any particular policy relating to the type of language preferred in their magazine, they replied that they did not, their only aim was to be “as clear as possible” and to “avoid jargon, and they are “committed to plain English.”

In “Journalese for the Lay Reader” (Time, 1985), the author says tongue-in-cheek:

Journalese, the native tongue of newsgatherers and pundits, retains a faint similarity to English but is actually closer to Latin. Like Latin, it is primarily a written language, prized for its incantatory powers, and is best learned early, while the mind is still supple. Every cub reporter, for instance, knows that fires rage out of control, minor mischief is perpetrated by Vandals (never Visigoths, Franks or a single Vandal working alone) and key labor accords are hammered out by weary negotiators in marathon, round-the- clock bargaining sessions, thus narrowly averting threatened walkouts.

B. George Orwell’s six rules for better writing from “Politics of the English Language” (1946)

George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair) was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and literary critic. Among his famous novels are “1984” and “Animal Farm.”

From Wikipedia:

“Politics and the English Language” is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the “ugly and inaccurate” written English of his time and examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.

The essay focused on political language, which, according to Orwell, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Orwell believed that the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless because it was intended to hide the truth rather than express it. This unclear prose was a “contagion” which had spread to those who did not intend to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer’s thoughts from himself and others. Orwell encourages concreteness and clarity instead of vagueness, and individuality over political conformity.

In his essay, Orwell provided six rules or guidelines for better writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. [Originality]

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. [Simplicity]

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. [Brevity]

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. [Active voice]

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. [Clarity]

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. [Flexibility]

Orwell wrote “Politics and the English Language” some 75-plus years ago, but his six rules for better writing have withstood the test of time. You will frequently come across these six rules as you read through various resources on writing

From “Have your say: guidelines for writers and contributors” (The Guardian):

Good writing is simple writing. Even when writing for a professional audience, avoid clichés and jargon. Read, re-read and strike out repetition, avoid or explain cultural references and any acronyms you use.

And always remember George Orwell’s six golden rules for effective writing.

The Economist’s “Style Guide” states in its introduction:

The first requirement of The Economist is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible. Keep in mind George Orwell’s six elementary rules (“Politics and the English Language”, 1946).

C. Definitions, characteristics, and effects of “journalese”

1. From “What Is Journalese (and What’s Wrong With It)?” by Richard Nordquist, Professor emeritus of Rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University:

Journalese is an informal, often pejorative term for a style of writing and word choice found in many newspapers and magazines.

“In general,” said Wilson Follett in Modern American Usage, “journalese is the tone of contrived excitement.” William Zinnser calls it “the death of freshness in anybody’s style” (On Writing Well, 2006).

2. In their book “Journalese -- A Dictionary for Deciphering the News“ (2012), Paul Dickson and Robert Skole define journalese as “the particular code in which journalists report a story. It is a pattern of language — a jargon — that never appears in normal conversation.”

Citing from Dickson and Skole’s book in his article “Book strives to make journalese crystal clear” at https://archive.triblive.com/lifestyles/more-lifestyles/book-strives-to-make-journalese-crystal-clear/ defines journalese as a bland paste of buzzwords, jargon and overused words served up by newspapers, TV stations and websites every day.

3. From “Ease off the ‘journalese’” by Paula Larocque:

This is journalese: stock words and phrases that slip from the keyboard into a news story without engaging the brain of the writer. Because journalese requires so little thought, clogging a story with it can be quick and easy. But such stories don’t sound so much like stories as they do warmed-over reports. Nor do they sound like speech. They sound like what they are: a collection of clichés written to a template.

Note:

Paula LaRocque is a writing consultant for the Associated Press, the Drehscheibe Institute in Bonn, and the European Stars & Stripes in Germany.

For ten years, she taught technical communication at Western Michigan University’s School of Engineering, and journalism at Texas A&M, Southern Methodist, and Texas Christian universities. And for the following 20 years, she was assistant managing editor and writing coach at The Dallas Morning News.

She has been a columnist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Quill magazine for more than than two decades.

4. From “Getting an inside look at reporters’s shorthand” (The Berkshire Eagle) by Andrew Amelinckx:

As a newspaper reporter, I’ve been guilty of using journalese — the definition given in the book is “the particular code in which journalists report a story a jargon that never appears in normal conversation.”

These words and phrases are so common because they are a type of shorthand, and can be a time saver when a reporter is trying to make deadline, but are also a lazy way of telling a story.

5. From “Wordplay: Columnist probes journalistic clichés” (The Sydney Morning Herald) by David Astle:

Journalese is the catchall term, a euphemism for hack-speak, the reflex clichés recycled by humble scribes, with humble scribe being high on the list. In newspaper land, pleas are usually heartfelt, mixes are heady, attacks are withering, while innocent bystanders are destined to look on in horror.

Cliche stems from the “click” that lead slugs made when placed into old printing presses. In press circles, those furtive cliches persist, as shockwaves emanate from bombshells, infernos blaze and rampages are always booze-fuelled.

6. From “Clichés & journalese” (The BBC News Style Guide):

Journalese comes from newspapers, which have developed a particular style to meet their own needs. Some of them have moved a very long way from standard English. Some journalists assume that newspaper English is the language of all journalism. It is not. Broadcast journalism, written for the ear, requires a different approach. Our writing has to be simpler, clearer and more natural.

Journalese is a specialist form of cliché writing. People who use it presumably want to sound urgent, to make an impact and to be, well, journalistic. Even though you are a journalist, whether in the field or in the office, try to avoid it.

7. From “Political clichés fill airwaves during conventions” by Christopher Jones-Cruise:

Writing in clichés is often faster than writing clearly and conversationally.

I get it. We’re dealing with time pressures. But this kind of writing puts up a barrier between us and our readers, listeners and viewers.

8. From “Avoiding fad, clichés and jargon” (Texas Center For Community Journalism) by Paula Larocque:

It gives us surprise moves and bizarre twists. It gives us drug lords and lone gunmen and grieving widows and bearded dictators and fugitive financiers.

Journalese also gives us an overworked vocabulary—verbs and nouns such as fueling or spurring or sparking or targeting or skyrocketing or spiraling or escalating . . . A storm dumps more than five inches of rain and spawns hurricane-force winds and golfball-sized hail.

9. “There is no ease in journalese” (Detroit Free Press) by Joe Grimm:

We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn’t do any of that. Part of journalese is in the words; part is in the construction.

D. Elements of “journalese”:

(1) stock expressions — color, humor, clichés; (2) euphemisms; (3) novel ways journalists use words — conversions, attributives, reduplication, archaisms, neologisms, modifications; (4) immediacy of style — short, vernacular words; emotive and inflated expressions; quasi-illiterate usages; innuendo; allusive punning

1. From “What Is Journalese (and What’s Wrong With It)?” by Richard Nordquist, Professor emeritus of Rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University:

A general, usually non-technical term for the way in which journalists write (and speak), or are thought to write (and speak).

It is used both neutrally (referring to newspaper style at large) and more often pejoratively (implying that such a style is stereotyped, vulgar, and inclined to debase the language).

2. From “Legalese” (Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language) by Tom McArthur:

The Random House Dictionary (1987) defines journalese as

(a) a manner of writing or speaking characterized by cliches occasional neologism, archness, sensationalizing adjectives, unusual or faulty syntax, etc., used by some journalists, esp. certain columnists, and regarded as typical journalistic style

(b) writing or expression in this manner: “Get that journalese out of your copy! ... That word’s not English — it’s journalese.”

The article cites the following as the elements of journalese:

• stock expressions: color; humor; clichés
• euphemisms
• use of words in novel ways: conversions; attributives; reduplications; archaisms; neologisms; modification
• immediacy of style: short, vernacular words; emotive and inflated expressions; quasi-illiterate usages; innuendo

Examples of stock expressions: bored housewife, devout Catholic, distinguished surgeon, grieving widow

Examples of color (striking words or graphic details that attract interest): “White-haired granny Mrs. X was yesterday found savagely beaten.”

Examples of clichés: the ivory tower (for the academic world: often concrete and plate glass), the rat race (competitive business), the party faithful (for loyal workers and voters for a political party), mecca (for any location attracting a particular group, other than for religious purposes, as in fabulous, surfing mecca).

Novel ways that journalists use words:

• Conversions (using nouns as verbs)
• Attributives (using nouns to qualify other nouns such as “rescue” as in rescue worker, rescue party, rescue team)
• Reduplication (coinages that often rhyme, lodge easily in the memory, and sometimes become catch-phrases such as the “jet set,” “brain drain,” and “culture vulture.”
• Archaisms (such as “agog,” “foe,” “hustings,” “scribe,” and “slay”)
• Neologisms (nonce and stunt forms such as “new-look,” “lookalike,” and “lensman”)
• Modifications (word combination that often leads to strings of adjectives and attributive nouns such as “Zsa Zsa Gabor, seventyish, eight-times-married, Hungarian-born celebrity”)

Immediacy of style:

• Short, vernacular words (such as poll for “election and blast for “explosion”)
• Emotive and inflated expressions (such as storm and row for “controversy” as in “storm over price-hikes” and “Cabinet row over inflation”)
• Quasi-illiterate usages (such as “gonna” and “wanna”)
• Innuendo (especially in the tabloids, hints that are more or less explicitly muscular or sexual innuendo are often employed)
• Allusive punning (such as “Drapes of things to come” and “A test of skull on the Thames” from The Times, 26 July 1988)

E. Elements of journalese as a pejorative term:

(1) words, phrases, expressions that have become clichés;

(2) sentence constructions that lead to complexity and confusion; and

(3) style of expression that does not reflect the way that ordinary people speak or write.

F. Elements of journalese

From The News Manual, developed by The University of Papua, New Guinea with help from the UNESCO and designed for Asian-Pacific countries: (1) jargon; (2) unnecessary words; (3) clichés

(1) Jargon

“They were invited to participate in the development of that mineral resource and they are obligated to honour their agreement to participate.”

Plain English

“They agreed to take part in mining and must stick to that agreement."

Examples of jargon and their Plain English alternatives:

Jargon	Plain English
absence of accommodate adequate anticipate approximately ascertain assistance attempt at the present time	no hold or seat enough expect about find out help try now

(2) Unnecessary words:

People frequently put in extra words or phrases which do not add to understanding. As a journalist, you should judge which words help your reader or listener and which only make the sentence longer.

Example:

Instead of “waiting for a period of two years two years,” you should simply say “waiting for two years.”

Another common fault, particularly in the spoken word, is to add adjectives or adverbs to nouns or verbs which should not have them. In grammar, this is called redundancy.

It usually happens where the noun or verb is an absolute; that is, where something either is or is not, with no half measures. Examples: very pregnant, utterly dead.

Examples of unnecessary words and phrases:

absolute perfection

absolutely necessary

accidentally stumble

acute crisis

adequate enough

advance planning

a distance of two metres

all-time record

a number of examples

a period of two years

appear on the scene

ask the question

assemble together

at a later date

attach together

(3) Clichés: phrases which have been used so often in such a variety of situations that they have lost most of their meaning and force. They become boring to regular readers or listeners and should be avoided.

Examples of clichés in most of the developed English-speaking nations:

a bee in his bonnet

all walks of life

all-out effort

armed to the teeth

as luck would have it

at a loss for words

bated breath

beaming smile

behind closed doors

benefit of the doubt

bigger and better

bitter end

blessing in disguise

blunt instruments

brutally murdered

budding genius

G. Examples of “journalese” or words, phrases, expressions that have become clichés

Examples from “200 journalism cliches — and counting” (Washington Post)

At first glance (or worse, “at first blush”)

As a nation (or worse, “as a society”)

Upon deeper reflection (why not reflect deeply from the start?)

Observers (unless referring to people actually sitting around watching something)

[Person] is not alone (from anecdote to generalization, we get it)

And [someone/something] is no exception

Critics say (or “critics are quick to point out”)

The narrative (unless referring to a style of writing)

Probe (an uncomfortable substitute for “investigation”)

Opens/offers a rare window (unless it is a real window that is in fact unusual)

Begs the question (unless used properly – and so rarely used properly that it’s not worth the trouble)

Pundits say

Be that as it may

If you will (actually, I won’t)

A cautionary tale

Cautiously optimistic

Needless to say (then don’t say it)

Suffice it to say (if it suffices, then just say it)

Examples from “Journalese; A Dictionary for Deciphering the News” by Dickson and Skole:

Arguably: Arguably gives reporters the freedom to draw conclusions they wouldn’t dare on their own. No one wants to say “certainly” when such a useful fudge factor is available.

Claim: We don’t believe what the person says, but here it is. A person who likes a source, never says he or she ``claims’’ something. Instead, it is ``firmly stated.’’

Compelling: Book reviewer already used riveting.

Cycles of Violence: At least two crimes in two days.

Embattled: the term applied to almost anyone or anything that is under attack, and generally when it’s the media doing the attacking.

Eerily: streets that are dark or deserted are always eerily silent.

Essentially: Choice TV news term meaning absolutely nothing, although the reporter may think it’s important.

Firestorm: At least two people protest or complain.

Fledgling: A young and inexperienced person, but often used by fledgling reporters to mean faltering.

Frantic Search: The kind of search that people conduct when children are missing. A level-headed search won’t do.

Frenzy: At least three guys arguing.

Hero: Just about anyone in uniform or someone who gets a cat down from a tree

High-speed chase: All police chases are at high-speed. It would be big news, such as O.J. Simpson, if the chase stayed within speed limits.

Highly respected: One degree above highly regarded. His mother and father both boast about him.

Jockeying: what politicians do when they’re busy elbowing out an opponent.

Machiavellian: Any actions by politicians the paper does not support. Politicians the paper does support are wise, savvy, strategic, shrewd or astute players of the political game.

Motion Picture: A very serious film the reviewer likes, and is often described as a “major motion picture.’” Otherwise, it’s a movie or film or flick.

Noted Authority: Said of anyone on a reporter’s speed-dial or Twitter feed.

Presumably: Codeword that the writer is about to take a wild-assed guess.

Punishing: Any storm, hurricane, tornado, flood, or other natural disaster. Also a military operation that the reporter doesn’t approve of.

Raw Data: Data that has not yet been cooked.

Sketchy: Reporter doesn’t know what the heck is going on.

Unconfirmed: It may not be true, but we want to print this before the opposition did.

From “Stuck in amid hell with you” (The Guardian) by Andy Bodle:

“The word ’amid’ is scarcely used at all in spoken or written English. Why, then, is it so popular with journalists?”

“But [amid] also turns up with exasperating regularity in the body of the text, often as a sort of universal connector, a one-stop shop for all your prepositional needs. When a word has come to mean everything, it arguably no longer means anything. And words, in journalism more than in any other form, should be chosen where possible for their accuracy, not their expediency.”

“I don’t want, much less expect, all use of amid to cease forthwith. But I wouldn’t mind if people started applying it a little more judiciously; if we started to see one or two fewer amids, and one or two more afters, durings, because ofs, ins, at the peak ofs, in the heart ofs, in the face ofs, despites, givens, in a climate ofs, in the context ofs, in the light ofs, as part ofs and as a result ofs in their place.”

From “Political clichés fill the airwaves during conventions”:

front-runner

it’s all over but the shouting

an idea whose time has come

the right stuff

campaign trail

Warhorse

neck and neck

homestretch

beauty contest

dark horse

political animal

stem winder

warts and all

political litmus test

open secret

bandwagon

From “Thirty words journalists should stop using … and a simple test to make people reconnect with our work” by David Higgerson:

Probe

Eatery

Slammed

Mystery surrounds

Council chiefs

Blasted

Miracle

Nightspot (nitespot)

Revellers

Down booze

Wrecking spree

Provincial

Tzar

Cold snap

Bids

Breaks down (unless in a car)

Drama

Pot of cash

Plumped

Coffers

Best ever

Completely destroyed

Fracas

Up in arms

Quizzed

From “Words Journalists Use That People Never Say” by Bob Ingrassia (adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication):

fled on foot = ran away

high rate of speed = speeding

physical altercation = fight

verbal altercation = argument

reduce expenditures = cut costs

terminate employment = fire

reduction in service = layoff

blunt force trauma = injury

discharged the weapon = shot

transport the victim = take him/her

lower extremities = legs

officers observed = police saw

at this point in time = now

express concerns = complain

incendiary device = bomb

obtain information = ask or interview

deceased = dead

sexual relations = sex

roadway = road

commence = begin

emergency personnel = police, firefighters

from fled on foot

utilize = use

complainant = victim

fatally injured = killed

motorist = driver

juvenile male/female = teen boy or girl

respond to the scene = arrive

precipitation = rain, snow

purchase = buy

intoxicated = drunk

controlled substances = drugs

appendages = arms, legs

contusion = bruise

head trauma = head injury

laceration = cut

provide leadership = lead

obstruct = block, get in the way

came to the conclusion that = decided, figured out

arrived at a decision = decided

reside = live

H. Some Plain English guidelines for effective writing

Index: Use short and clear sentences; Avoid nominalizations, dummy subjects or expletive constructions, unnecessary preambles, and interruptive phrases; Use the active voice, minimize the passive; Parallelism; Intra-paragraph organization; principles of readability

1. Use short and clear sentences

Rachel McAlpine in her book “Global English for Global Business” (page 38) says:

“Short sentences are a supreme advantage when communicating with people from a non-English speaking background. If you want your English to be understood worldwide—write short sentences. If you want to avoid embarrassing grammar mistakes and excruciating international misunderstandings—use short sentences. If you want your international clients to read your documents easily, confidently and accurately—use short sentences.”

Ann Wylie in her article “How to Make Your Copy More Readable: Make Sentences Shorter” explains:

The longer your sentences, the less your readers will understand, according to research by the American Press Institute. The study shows that:

• When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long, readers understood 100 percent of the story.
• Even at 14 words, they could comprehend more than 90 percent of the information.
• But move up to 43-word sentences, and comprehension dropped below 10 percent.

Bottom line: To improve understanding, break sentences up or condense them.

The modern English sentence is short, averaging below 20 words per sentence.

(a) From “The Principles of readability” by William DuBay:

In 1880, a professor of English Literature at the University of Nebraska, Lucius Adelno Sherman, began to teach literature from a historical and statistical point of view.

He compared the older prose writers with more popular modern writers such as Macaulay (The History of England) and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He noticed a progressive shortening of sentences over time.

He decided to look at this statistically and began by counting average sentence length per 100 periods. In his book (1893), Analytics of Literature, A Manual for the Objective Study of English Prose and Poetry, he showed how sentence length averages shortened over time:

Pre-Elizabethan times: 50 words per sentence
Elizabethan times: 45 words per sentence
Victorian times: 29 words per sentence
Sherman’s time: 23 words per sentence.

In our time, the average is down to 20 words per sentence.

(b) Ellegard Norm: The modern English sentence has an average of 17.6 words per sentence. (From 1978 study by Swedish researcher Alvar Ellegard of 1 million words corpus of 20th century American English writing called the Brown Corpus collected by Brown University in 1964)

(c) “What is Happening to Written English?”

Essentially, the sentence has become shorter – quite dramatically. In a study by Brock Haussamen (1994) using text from a variety of sources, the average sentence length was shown to have reduced from 40-70 in the period 1600-1700 to the low 20s in the 1990s.

Year 1600 - 1700: Sentence length 40 - 70 words
Year 1800 - 1900: Sentence length 30 - 40 words
Year 1990s: Sentence length 20s

(d) Comparison of average sentence length of several writers

Jane Austen: 42
John Steinbeck: 18.4
D. H. Lawrence: 13.5

(e) “Editing Tip: Sentence Length”

" ... the average sentence length for Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who can be considered representative of a modern English writer with a general audience, is 12 words ..."

(f) “The long sentence: A disservice to science in the Internet age”

If we want the fullness of science in necessarily long papers to be appreciated, it must increasingly be written in short sentences.

(g) From “Elements of Style” by Strunk and White: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

(h) “Techniques in creating clear, concise, and direct sentences” (The Writing Center, University Wisconsin – Madison):

• Unless you have a reason not to, use the active voice. Put the action of the sentence in the verb.
• Reduce wordy verbs.
• Use expletive constructions (“It is,” “There is,” “There are”) sparingly.
• Try to avoid using vague, all-purpose nouns, which often lead to wordiness.
• Unless your readers are familiar with your terminology, avoid writing strings of nouns.
• Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases.
• Avoid unnecessarily inflated words
• Put wordy phrases on a diet.

(i) “Writing Concise Sentences” (from The Guide to Grammar and Writing, sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut)

• Pruning the Redundant
• Abbreviated Redundancies
• Reducing Clauses to Phrases, Phrases to Single Words
• Intensifiers that Don't Intensify
• Avoiding Expletive Constructions
• Phrases You Can Omit
• Eliminating Clichés and Euphemisms
• Writing Concise Sentences (exercises)
• Eliminating Wordiness (exercises)
• Rewriting Bloated Sentences (exercises)

(j) “Identifying and addressing wordiness in sentences” (from The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

• Eliminate redundant pairs
• Delete unnecessary qualifiers
• Identify and reduce prepositional phrases
• Locate and delete unnecessary modifiers
• Replace a phrase with a word
• Identify negatives and change them to affirmatives

2. Use the active voice, minimize the passive.



(a) Passive voice is one of the biggest problems with government documents. From US National Archives and Records Administration Style Guide:

Active voice is the best way to identify who is responsible for what action.

In an active sentence, the person or organization that’s acting is the subject of the sentence. In a passive sentence, the person or item that is acted upon is the subject of the sentence. Passive voice obscures who is responsible for what and is one of the biggest problems with government documents.

(b) A sentence is in the active voice if the subject performs the action expressed in the verb. For example:

The dog bit the boy. (Active voice)

The boy was bitten by the dog. (Passive voice)

3. Avoid nominalizations (hidden verbs)



(a) A hidden verb is a verb converted into a noun. It often needs an extra verb to make sense. So we write, “Please make an application for a personal loan” rather than “Please apply for a personal loan.” (US SEC “A Plain English Handbook” 1998)

(b) Two signals of nominalization

A. Distinct endings	B. Weak helping verbs
- ance - ence - ant - ity - ant - ment - ness - sion - tion	be conduct do effect get give have hold make perform provide put

(c) What Is Nominalization in English Grammar?

In English grammar, nominalization is a type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or another part of speech) is used as (or transformed into) a noun. The verb form is nominalize. It is also called nouning.

In transformational grammar, nominalization refers to the derivation of a noun phrase from an underlying clause. In this sense, an “example of nominalization is the destruction of the city, where the noun destruction corresponds to the main verb of a clause and the city to its object.” (Geoffrey Leech, A Glossary of English Grammar, 2006).

(d) The Dark Side of Verbs-as-Nouns (New York Times)

It’s not just that nominalization can sap the vitality of one’s speech or prose; it can also eliminate context and mask any sense of agency. Furthermore, it can make something that is nebulous or fuzzy seem stable, mechanical and precisely defined. . . .

Nominalizations give priority to actions rather than to the people responsible for them. Sometimes this is apt, perhaps because we don’t know who is responsible or because responsibility isn’t relevant. But often they conceal power relationships and reduce our sense of what’s truly involved in a transaction. As such, they are an instrument of manipulation, in politics and in business. They emphasize products and results, rather than the processes by which products and results are achieved.

4. Avoid dummy subjects (expletive constructions) and unnecessary preambles

(a) “It” as a Dummy Subject in Grammar

The word “it” can be a subject (or dummy subject) in sentences about times, dates, and the weather (such as, It's raining) and in certain idioms (It's OK). Also known as ambient “it” or empty “it.”

Unlike the ordinary pronoun it, dummy it refers to nothing at all; it simply serves a grammatical function. In other words, dummy it has a grammatical meaning but no lexical meaning.

Related discussion: “Dummy Words” Have No Meaning

(b) Avoid dummy subjects or expletive constructions such as

• It is ...
• It appears ...
• There is ...
• There are ...
• It will be ...

Examples from “A Handbook for Writers In the U.S. Federal Government”:

Dummy or false subjects	Plain Language revision
It is argued in the report that it is essential to simplify the tax code.	The report argues that simplifying the tax code is essential.
There was no consideration given to the suggestion by the committee.	The committee failed to consider the suggestion.
It is her opinion that there are several issues that need to be resolved.	She believes that several issues need to be resolved.

(c) Avoid unnecessary preambles or pompous phrases such as

• It is important to add that...
• It may be recalled that...
• In this regard it is of significance that...
• It is interesting to note that...
• I would like to point out ...
• I would argue that ...
• It should be noted that ...
• It has been determined that ...
• It is obvious that ...

5. Parallelism (using parallel constructions)

From “Parallelism” (University of Lynchburg):

Parallelism in Sentence Structure

Parallelism refers to using similar words, clauses, phrases, sentence structure, or other grammatical elements to emphasize similar ideas in a sentence. It makes the sentence concise, clear, and easy to read. Parallel structure is important especially in items in a series, paired items, and items in an outline or list.

A shorter definition: “Parallelism is a literary device that repeats grammatical elements to emphasize and create memorable phrases.”

From “Parallelism Examples — Writing, Speeches, Shakespeare & More” (Studio Binder):

Parallelism isn’t just a grammar style reserved for literature – it’s a tool we use in everyday conversation as well.

Here are some popular parallel phrases:

• “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
• “What you see is what you get.”
• “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
• “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
• “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Parallel phrases often use “it” or “their” to match the syntax to the secondary noun.

6. Intra-paragraph organization; principles of readability

“Intra-paragraph Organization for ESL Writers” by Dr. Linda Bergmann, Professor of English, Purdue University.

“Five Principles of Readability” by Dr. David Blakesley, Professor of English, Purdue University; Brought to you in cooperation with the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

I. Interactive exercises on using Plain English instead of journalese

In my website “Plain English — Plain Language — Clear Writing for journalism, law, business, science, academic, technical and general writing; with resources and interactive exercises in Plain English, grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc.” you can find numerous interactive exercises on using Plain English instead of journalese (jargon, clichés, wordiness, pompous words and phrases).

Examples:

Plain English Words and Phrases 1 (with time limit)

Plain English Words and Phrases 16 (with time limit)

Plain Language / Plain English exercises on avoiding wordiness, formalism,redundancy, and nominalization (45 seconds time limit) Part 1

Avoid pretentiousness, wordiness, and jargon (1)

Avoid wordiness (basis, manner, fashion, and way)

Use short, simple words or phrases (1)

Wordy words and phrases vs. simpler words and phrases (1) with time limit