Grammar: FIVE words newswriters should avoid at al costs.

 

 

Avoid these words at all costs while writing stories, especially for broadcast.

The odds are good you will misuse them.

1) Literally

2) Amount vs Number

3) There's

4) Fewer vs Less

5) who vs that

I hear these words misused from Network TV Newscasts on down to local news. In nationally produced commercials and local ones. If you include 'em in your story, re-read it and ask yourself: Is that right?

And while I'm at it: when you make a definitive statement in a story, ask yourself "Says Who?"