The finer points of grammar

JOURNALISTS have to face many obstacles in their quest to become a good reporter.

Learning how to conduct incisive interviews, mastering 100wpm shorthand, nurturing the ability to drink beer.

But for a whole generation of scribes, one of the most difficult has to be learning correct grammar.

Unlike esteemed elderly - sorry, older - journalists like Steve Evans at the Nuneaton Telegraph and our grumpy yet eloquent sub editors, some of us were never trained in the finer points of split infinitives and past progressive tense.

In fact, most of us have trouble with a simple apostrophe.

I can clearly remember when I learnt how to use those tricky hovering commas correctly and it sure as hell wasn't at school.

The generation of reporters coming up behind me isn't much better, which shows how education standards have stalled.

Having said that there are a couple of people in the office who have no trouble - John "Scoop" Harris on the Bedworth Echo is meticulous when it comes to grammar, while southern softie Ed Stilliard is pretty good as well.

One comes from Beduth, the other from Sandhurst, so it's clearly nothing to do with wealth or where you live in the country.

Grammar and spelling are things we have to master.

As much as getting the story in the first place is important, you also have to be able to package it in the right way.

That means writing clear, succinct, "clean" copy, free of the kind of mistakes there's no excuse for.

If a reader can't understand your story, they'll just stop reading, and if they spot a grammatical or spelling error, they'll lose their faith in you.

And when your reputation as an honest reporter is one of your biggest assets, you can see how important the humble apostrophe can be.

By the way, anyone pointing out you shouldn't start sentences with "and" or "but" take note - there's still a thing called journalistic licence!