Slides from my Sept. 1 Media Writing class.

1. Media Writing
MC2010
Steve Buttry
Sept. 1, 2016

2. Today’s quiz
In which of these sentences uses an active verb?
A. Steve Buttry is my professor.
B. Steve Buttry wrote the story.
C. My assignment was received by Steve Buttry.
D. Steve Buttry seems like a good professor.
Email your answer to brouzan94@gmail.com.

3. What are the differences?
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• Word usage
• Style

4. Grammar
Spelling
Capitalization
Punctuation
Word usage
Style
Good
writing

5. Active vs. passive voice
Active voice is the voice of accountability:
Passive: Mistakes were made.
Active: I screwed up.
Passive voice is weak but not inherently wrong:
Steve Buttry was murdered. Police don’t have a suspect
yet. (Active voice is correct because we don’t know
who did the action.)

6. Grammar vs. word usage & style
Steve Buttry was murdered. Police don’t have a suspect
yet.
Grammatically correct, but why is “murdered” still not
the correct verb?

10. Who/whom rule:
1. Find the verb
2. If the person is doing
the action of the
verb, use who
3. Otherwise, use whom

11. Who/whom tip
Rewrite sentence using they or them (or he/him,
she/her). If you use they (he/she), it’s who.
“Who do you trust?” sounds fine. But rewrite as “Do
you trust they?” and you know it should be “Do you
trust them?” So you know “Whom do you trust?” is
correct.

12. Who/whom challenges
Dependent clause: “Trump wanted to fire (whomever
or whoever?) leaked the rumor to the press.”
“Trump wanted to fire him” seems correct.
But remember the find-the-verb rule: The person is
doing the action of the verb leaked, so “Trump wanted
to fire whoever leaked the information to the press” is
correct.

13. Who/whom challenges
Attribution: “We will fire (whomever or whoever?)
Trump says leaked the rumor to the press.”
“Trump says” separates the word in question from the
verb, but leaked is still the verb related to the pronoun,
so whoever is still correct: “We will fire whoever Trump
says leaked the rumor to the press.”

14. Who/whom challenges
Find the right verb: “The judge, (who or whom) Trump
called a Mexican, was born in Indiana.”
Called is the closest verb to the pronoun, but it was
Trump who called. While the pronoun is the same
person who was born (the other verb), judge is the
subject of that verb. Rewrite the clause: “Trump called
him a Mexican.” So this is correct: “The judge, whom
Trump called a Mexican, was born in Indiana.”

15. Singular “they”
• Not yet accepted in AP style
• Gaining acceptance among editors & grammarians
• Singular pronouns have gender
• “Everyone” may be different genders or unknown
• Some don’t identify as male or female
• Usage may overrule grammarians

16. Use strong words
• “It is” (“it was,” etc.) & “There are,” (“there were,”
etc.) are grammatically correct but still weak
• Why are they weak?

17. But sometimes they’re perfect
“It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times”
“There is no joy in
Mudville.”

18. Seek specific words
Grammatically correct
several
get
go/went
make
cook
Stronger
seven (or six, or …)
buy, steal, find …
drive, run, hike, fly
build, develop, manufacture …
bake, fry, boil, grill …

19. Synonyms for said
• asked
• answered
• exclaimed
• claimed
• alleged
• insisted
• averred
• shouted
• wrote
• ruled
• declared
• related
• announced
• expressed
• mentioned
• uttered
• inquired
• yelled
• whispered
• articulated
• recounted
• told
• reported
• estimated
• pronounced
• disclosed
• revealed
• proclaimed
• divulged
• gossiped
• responded
• acknowledged

20. Your “Grammar Matter”
• Choose a date (and give me a backup date, in case
someone beats you to it) starting Sept. 27
• Presentation for class (slides welcome but not
necessary) on a grammar point addressed in one of
the grammar books or blogs listed in the syllabus
• Counts with regular writing assignments in final grade

21. Time to check your grammar

22. Today’s guest