5th Edition
English for Journalists Thirtieth Anniversary Edition
English for Journalists has established itself in newsrooms the world over as an invaluable guide to the basics of English and to those aspects of writing, such as reporting speech, house style and jargon, which are specific to the language of journalism. Written in a highly accessible and engaging style, English for Journalists covers the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, punctuation and journalistic writing, with all points illustrated through a series of concise and illuminating examples. The book features practical, easy-to-follow advice with examples of common mistakes and problem words.
This thirtieth anniversary edition features a revised first chapter on the state of English today by author Wynford Hicks, and a chapter on writing for social media by Gavin Allen, along with an updated glossary and references.
This is an essential guide to written English for practising journalists and students of journalism today.
Introduction: how this book began
1 English today
2 Grammar: the rules
3 Grammar: 10 common mistakes
4 Grammar: problems and confusions
5 Spelling
6 Punctuation
7 Reporting speech
8 Style
9 Social media
10 Words
11 Foreign words
12 Figures
Appendix 1 Style guide
Appendix 2 The ‘fronted adverbial’ muddle
Appendix 3 Glossary of terms
Further reading
Index
Biography
Wynford Hicks has worked as a reporter, subeditor, feature writer, editor and editorial consultant in magazines, newspapers and books, and as a teacher of journalism specialising in the use of English, subediting and writing styles. He is the author of Quite Literally.
Gavin Allen is Digital Journalism Lecturer at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture. He has been a journalist for 20 years, latterly as Associate Editor of Mirror.co.uk, having previously worked at MailOnline, MSN and WalesOnline.
Reviews of previous editions:
‘For those uncertain of their word power and those who know in their bones that they are struggling along on waffle, a couple of hours with this admirably written manual would be time well spent.’
Keith Waterhouse, British Journalism Review
‘English for Journalists is a jolly useful book. It’s short. It’s accessible. It’s cheap. And it tells you what you want to know.’
Humphrey Evans, Journalist
‘It makes a simple-to-use guide that you could skim read on a train journey or use as a basic textbook that you can dip into to solve specific problems.’
Short Words
