StyleGRAMMAR AND SYNTAXOur business is mass communication, so we should always use simple, contemporary <strong>and</strong>popular language. But even the simplest expression is built on a foundation of grammar <strong>and</strong>syntax, <strong>and</strong> as professional communicators it is essential we underst<strong>and</strong> the basic rules of printjournalism.Many journalists who studied under school curriculums that paid little or no heed to grammarwill benefit from an underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the basic building blocks of our language. While it istrue that knowledge of grammar does not make a good writer, good writing depends on goodgrammar.WORD CLASSESRecognising particular word classes (formerly known as “parts of speech”) makes discussion ofgrammatical rules easier to underst<strong>and</strong>.• Nouns describe “things”, whether concrete (you can touch – a computer) or abstract (youcan’t touch – beauty)• Pronouns substitute for nouns: I, me, him, who, they, it, mine, its, his.• Verbs, or doing words, express action or being. In The cat sat on the mat, the cat is sitting.Sat is the verb.• Adverbs usually describe a verb, adjective or other adverb. In Go quickly the adverb isquickly. Most adverbs end in –ly.• Adjectives describe. In little old me, the adjectives are little <strong>and</strong> old.• Prepositions show relationships between nouns <strong>and</strong> pronouns <strong>and</strong> other words. In The catsat on the mat, the preposition is on. This class includes with, in, by, from, to, for, against,over, under <strong>and</strong> into.• Conjunctions link clauses, phrases <strong>and</strong> words: <strong>and</strong>, but, when.• Articles the (the definite article), a, an (the indefinite articles).• Exclamations, interjections Aha! Cripes! Heck! are among these – although you areunlikely to need them.SENTENCE PARTSAll sentences contain a subject <strong>and</strong> a verb. I am is therefore a sentence. But sentence structure isusually more complicated:Subject, predicate, object, indirect object• Subject The person or thing being discussed.• Predicate The part of the sentence that says what is done to or done by the subject. Itconsists of the verb <strong>and</strong> the object, indirect object <strong>and</strong> qualifiers (if any)• Object The thing that is directly implicated in the action.,• Indirect object The thing for which the action is done. In “The editor brought the cadetsdrinks”, the subject is the editor. The rest of the sentence is the predicate. The object isUQ <strong>SJC</strong> STYLEBOOK <strong>2012</strong> – PAGE 8
drinks, <strong>and</strong> the indirect object is the cadets. Many sentences have no object or indirectobject: “She is unhappy with the way things have turned out.”Shun the practice of putting today, yesterday <strong>and</strong> the like between the subject <strong>and</strong> the very itqualifies. “A Sydney horse trainer was shot dead last night” not “… last night was shot dead”, orworse, splitting the very, “was last night shot dead”.ClausesA clause is part of a sentence <strong>and</strong> consists of a subject <strong>and</strong> a predicate. It is therefore a sentencewithin a sentence. The most important types of clause are:• Main The essence of the sentence on which the rest depends. It could st<strong>and</strong> apart from therest of the sentence <strong>and</strong> still have meaning.• Subordinate A clause that qualifies the main clause <strong>and</strong> cannot st<strong>and</strong> by itself as the mainclause can. Thus in the sentence “After beating them with a large dictionary, the editorbought the cadets a round of drinks”, the first clause is a subordinate clause, <strong>and</strong> the secondis the main clause. Try to avoid starting sentences with subordinate clauses. It makes yourwriting indirect. Compare “When asked about the reports last night, the Premier refused tocomment” with “The Premier refused to comment when asked about the reports last night”,which is simpler <strong>and</strong> sharper.A sentence can contain more than one main clause. The important think is that two main clausesmust either be joined by a conjunction or st<strong>and</strong> as separate sentences. They cannot be linkedby a mere comma. For example: “The Tigers played hard, they deserved to win” is wrong. Itshould be either: “The Tigers played hard. They deserved to win” or “The Tigers played hard <strong>and</strong>deserved to win.”PhrasesA phrase is part of a clause. It is a group of words that makes a unit, but does not contain a verb.It therefore cannot st<strong>and</strong> alone as a sentence. A round of drinks is a phrase.ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICEIn active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. In passive voice, the subject ofthe sentence has the action done to it: “The car hit the man” (active); “The man was hit by thecar” (passive).The word by next to a verb is usually a good indicator the sentence is in passive voice,which you should avoid. Active voice is, as its name suggests, more active. However, there areoccasions when the information requires passive construction. Compare: “A protester waving arepublican placard yesterday assaulted the Queen” with “The Queen was assaulted yesterday bya protester waving a republican placard”. The second construction, although passive, is betterbecause it puts the most eye-catching information first.PARTICIPLES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASESParticiples look like verbs, but they are not. Often they end in –ing (Running to catch a bus,S<strong>and</strong>ra fell…, or –ed (Regarded as favourites, the Tigers ran on to the ground…) or –en <strong>and</strong> –n(Known for his neckties, Mr Smith…).The main concern with participles is that if they appear in a subordinate clause, as in thecases above, they must relate to the subject of the main clause.PAGE 9 – <strong>2012</strong>UQ <strong>SJC</strong> STYLEBOOK
Change language