News You Can Use (or Snooze Through)
Congratulations! It's June 2025 and you've just graduated from the SOJC and have gotten a job at the Seattle Times. Your editor has sent you to cover the Ducks vs. Washington State football game at WSU.
What dateline will you put on your story?
What is PULLMAN, Wash. — ?
One way to fix the following sentence:
The test was taken by the very smart student who thought he knew everything.
What is The very smart student, who thought he knew everything, took the test?
You're writing a news story. You decide to use a compound sentence in one of your paragraphs. To do so, you realize you need a comma and one of these.
What is one of the FANBOYS?
The punctuation and style problems in the following:
“When we finish the new budget and get approval from Congress” President Biden stated on Thursday. “we’ll be ready to move forward with our plans.”
What are you need a comma after Congress, a comma after Thursday, and "stated" should be "said"?
“When we finish the new budget and get approval from Congress,” President Biden said on Thursday, “we’ll be ready to move forward with our plans.”
The upper case words in these lyrics:
"The Northwest air BRINGS the fast boys to town
BE like fire on the Cascades
When our feet TOUCH the ground.
In my mind IS a memory
TASTES too good, IT'S bitter sweet
Of cheap champagne and a victory
I LEFT my heart in Oregon.
Oh, I LEFT my heart in Oregon.
Yeah, I LEFT my heart in Oregon.
What are weak verbs and strong verbs?
Extra point: Name the singer.
Come the fall, reporters at the Daily Emerald will need to know how to spell the name of the university's president.
So, how do you spell it?
What is John Karl Scholz?
You are editing someone's J212 travel blog -- and so far you like what you are reading. The writer has used the FIRST person. The writer has SHOWN with evidence, just not TOLD with dull adjectives. But suddenly, when reading the EXPOSITION (the middle part), you notice something missing. There should be three of these, but you see ZERO.
What are subheads before each paragraph?
Ooooh, say can you C?
What are the the three C's that J212 is built around?
What are Clarity, Concise, Correct?
Running on the track at Hayward Field, the hurdles prevented the Duck sprinters from getting to the finish line.
What is a dangling modifier?
The spelling of the Duck of All SOJC Ducks, the Dean Duck who has the corner office in Allen Hall. (You need to spell his name correctly.)
Who is J-U-A-N-C-A-R-L-O-S M-O-L-L-E-D-A?
Here's a headline from a recent AP story:
What do you notice about the verb in headline?
What is ... it's in the present tense?
Spot the 2 misspellings:
It's another sunny day in Eugene, but the UO students are definitely not feeling sunny. They are affected by burnout by brought on by the long school year and all the coming exams. Everyday they remain in school, their desire to go home rises. They want there professors to give the necessary tests soon. "We're so ready to end the school year," they say in unison.
What are everyday and there?
You're at a T. Swift concert this summer.
She calls you on stage to sing with her.
She wants you to sing the following refrain:
If you could see that I'm the one
Who understands you
Been here all along
So, why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me
But before you start singing, T. Swift asks, Which person is this lyric in. You answer...
What is ... the second person?
One way to fix this dangling modifier:
Walking along the beach, the sun rose majestically over the ocean.
What is Walking along the beach, I saw the sun rise majestically over the ocean?
The last name of the first DEAN of the SOJC.
What is Allen?
Here's a quote used in a recent AP story. Can you find the two mistakes?
“This is going to be the hardest game of our life, and we know that,” Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets' center said. “we are prepared for that. So, I think there is no favorite. Definitely, I think we are not favorites in this series. I think they’re not either. I think it’s just the finals."
What is ... you need a comma after center and you need to capitalize the W in We?
Use the hints to give two correct answers:
Hint one: Like the word PASSIVE, this part of speech starts with the letter P and — now, ssshhhh, keep this BETWEEN YOU AND I — is placed before a noun or a pronoun to create a certain kind of phrase.
Hint two: When you use the P-word from the above clue, you need to make sure to use another P-word -- PRONOUN -- correctly. Knowing that, this is what's wrong with BETWEEN YOU AND I.
What is a preposition and what is I should be ME?
The number of spelling mistakes and/or AP Style mistakes in this lede paragraph.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Bidin called on 4 senators Wednesday to explain how the rise in inflation is effecting the global economy and what steps are neccessary to reign in inflation.
What is five?
The writer should have used these two words in this sentence rather than the two words used:
The SOJC plans to graduate 600 students this June. They hope the students will come back in the fall for a reunion.
What is IT HOPES?
The SOJC plans to graduate 600 students this June. IT HOPES the students will come back in the fall for a reunion.
We all know Barack Obama stopped by Prince Puckler's when he was in Eugene.
But what ice cream did he eat?
What is mint chocolate chip and green tea ice cream?
When you become a reporter, you've got to make sure you can spell the names of people in the news.
With that in mind, spell the last name of the President of Ukraine the way the AP spells it?
What is Zelenskyy?
Spot three errors in this news story:
Eugene, OR. — The University of Oregon announced on Wednsday a new program that will turn all final exams into bars of gold that students can redeem for an A plus in a class or a meal at the EMU. "This will prove," said President Theodore Grammar, "that a UO education pays off".
What is the dateline needs help; Wednesday is spelled incorrectly; the last period needs to go inside the quote marks?
CB -- the prof, the one and only -- read you a kids book a couple of weeks ago. It either put you to sleep ... or showed you the value of writing crisp, short sentences. And it also showed you the value of the period.
What was the book called?
What is The Carrot Seed?
When you have a compound sentence, you use COORDINATING conjunctions (The FANBOYS.)
When you have a complex sentence, you use this kind of conjunction.
What is ... a subordinating conjunction?
The band behind "SHOUT". (Be sure to spell it correctly?)
What is Otis Day and the Knights?