OMG!--Txtng isn't AP style

DYI: Abbreviations are taken from from this site. SICNR (JIC: http://textforfree.net/textabbreviations.php)

Jennifer Johnson, top right, copy editor on the Page One Team at the Arizona Republic, introduced/reviewed the nuances and demands of Associated Press style and proper grammar Friday morning. OIC

(BTW, the images below Johnson are details of The Newsboy, located in the Arizona Republic's lobby. The link is not of this particular statue, but of another one in Texas. Another link to the same statue, but at another Web site.)

Johnson presented a PowerPoint presentation that covered the disparate yet related areas in an interesting, informative way. PTMM

"Reporters need an accurate, consistent presentation of the printed word," was advice she offered early in the session. SETE

Johnson brought out the nuances in AP style which could challenge the unintiated: all of the rules governing numbers, how to handle directions as part of names and compass directions, job titles preceeding and following names and references to time. My favorite gaffe: "12 noon." :-) EG

The AP Stylebook and I (me?) share 1953 as our birth year, our entrance into the world. The treaty calling a cease-fire to the Korean Conflict makes this a very good year. JMO

A bonus for those who have read this far: it's US (no periods) in headlines, U.S. written in text, as a noun or adjective. See the entries for United States on page 272 and U.S. on page 273. TMOT

Then there is grammar, which in Texas is last taught in the eighth grade. In some years I have to teach grammar. Some students need this extra help to become decent writers. T+

Johnson, also an adjunct instructor at Cronkite, said in a class she teaches many students show deficiencies in grammar, according to an exam administered at the beginning of the semester. A recent example: Out of a class of 300, 50 passed with an 80 or higher. An 83.3-percent failure rate is never good. (I think I'll ask her for a copy of it.) QMOT

She touched on diagramming sentences (something I remember well from my elementary school days, my fave!) and parts of speech. GMTA

Johnson offered http://www.newsroom101.com/ and http://www.newsus.org/. Both are useful sites. One more, our very own High School Journalism, http://www.hsj.org/, also has a series of grammar/AP style quizes at this site, offering five questions at a time. Feedback is immediate. TMWFI

SIG2R. EOM. BFN

SCNR :-)

Mark Webber

Vidal M. Treviňo School of Communications and Fine Arts

http://my.hsj.org/tx/laredo/vmt

Laredo, Texas