SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

term), or it is so unfamiliar that it is being cited (it is then put in quotation marks).temporal and temporary are sometimes confused. Temporal is having to do with time; orhaving to do with a present life. It can also refer to regions near a temple. Temporary meansnot permanent.tenses (see also indirect speech) Print journalism normally uses the past tense, as reports followthe events, etc. described:‘The greatest cricket show on earth yesterday warmed the hearts …’(Courier-Mail).This is not necessarily the case in broadcast journalism, where the reporting may coincidewith the events. In this case, use the present tense:‘Crowds are gathering here for the greatest cricket show on earth …However, the use of tenses should be accurate and both the present and future tense shouldbe used where appropriate, irrespective of medium: ‘Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation iseyeing a $US7 billion buy-out … ‘ (Financial Review). ‘Australian troops in Aceh will remainunarmed … ‘ (Sydney Morning Herald).Pay particular attention not to mix tenses, particularly in indirect speech. See attribution that,which These relative pronouns are not interchangeable and writers should not imagine that‘which’ is the literary form of ‘that’. Use ‘that’ in so-called restricted clauses.The house that Jack built is still standing.Use ‘which’ (and commas) for unrestricted clauses.The house, which Jack built, is still standing.The first usage here is restricted to one particular house; the second is not restricted. In thesecond example, the clause between the commas simply adds extra information that is notessential to the sentence.For further explanation, see Style (News Ltd section).that usually best dropped; clumsy and tautological. ‘A spokesman for the Prime Minister’soffice said that Mr Rudd had not worked yesterday’, or ‘He thought that it was a good idea’instead of ‘He thought it was a good idea’. Sometimes it is useful, such as ‘police said lastnight three people had died’. This is an ambiguous statement, needing ‘that’ to clarify whenthe police were speaking - last night or today. Always ask yourself whether it is necessary. Ifit’s not necessary LEAVE IT OUT. (See also which and that), and when to use them.the In journalism the definite article is often omitted (‘Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’). This is adebatable practice as prime minister is not a title but a role. However, there are two instanceswhere it is unacceptable to omit ‘the’ – where ‘the’ forms part of the title or name (TheAustralian, The University of Queensland), in which case it takes a capital letter; where ‘the’confers uniqueness (the Queen [if you so desire], the Mufti of Jerusalem), in which case itdoes not take a capital ‘t’.timber is wood; timbre (pronounced ‘tambr’) is the tonal quality of a sound.time Stories should be written with publication dates in mind. If an event occurs on June 22and the next edition of the paper is June 21 then write ‘. . . will be held tomorrow (June21).’ Similarly ‘next week’, ‘last month’ or ‘on Tuesday’ should be used and the actual dateincluded in brackets as confirmation. News style for time is concise: ‘11am on November 2,1911’ is an example.PAGE 59 – 2012UQ SJC STYLEBOOK