September 2018 – Page 2 – Subbing Clinic

#443

i newspaper, September 4, 2018

While it is good practice to give the reader information in a caption, you must give him or her credit for a bit of intelligence. You really do not need to point out which boxer is landing the punch.

‘Snuck’ is an American way of saying ‘sneaked’ and I find it a very ugly word. In any case I think it exists only in the active voice, eg ‘the man snuck into the garage’, not the passive voice which is used here. Really, ‘snuck’ should be avoided in every possible circumstance.

This is my entry on active and passive voices from Style Matters:

The active voice is for someone or something doing something. The passive voice is for something being done to someone or something. For example, ‘he shears/sheared the sheep’, but ‘the sheep was shorn’; ‘he mows/mowed the lawn’, but ‘the lawn has been mown’; ‘the torpedo sank the ship’, but ‘the ship was sunk by a torpedo’. It is a common error to say ‘the torpedo sunk the ship’.

I cannot stress strongly enough that it takes years of experience to make a good sub-editor. When I was a junior sub, almost everyone else in the department was older and wiser, and the benefit of their experience was passed down to me. A chief sub would often point out how things could be improved. These days most older subs have been dispensed with and there is no one to teach or mentor the younger ones. Staffs have been so reduced that no one has time to guide anyone else.

This clinic is an attempt to pass on my experience using real examples. I would love to receive items from others as I do not read every paper every day. I will add new entries as I come across them.

Month: September 2018

#443

#442

Drugs, weapons and mobile phones are among the items snuck into jails, says the Observer.