The Write Stuff AP Style refresh and more!
by Ronnie Zamora Coordinator, Public Relations Los Fresnos CISD
P
eople judge us by the words we use.
How many times have you seen co-workers – even administrators – write emails or presentations and not know the difference between it’s and its, your and you’re, affect or effect, ensure and insure, and (the one I don’t understand) lose and loose? Doesn’t that change your impression of your friends just a little? Many of us take our writing for granted. We think we know everything about writing, but we don’t. I have been writing professionally for 48+ years, and I still don’t know everything. Yet, we are expected to be the writing experts in our school districts. We’re the smartest people in town! We are in the education business! We don’t make typos and have bad grammar. It is up to us to write well, write concisely, follow AP style and be a good storyteller. Also, use a grammar checker like my favorite Grammarly, which got credit for an assist to this story.
WORD ECONOMY Journalists write to provide information concisely following the inverted pyramid style for journalists. The most important information goes first to the least important. Why? If you worked in the newspaper business, editors knew how much space they had for your story. They may have had only 10 column inches to fit your story. If you follow the inverted pyramid style, your story could be cut to fit the news hole. It’s the same for PR professionals. You may submit a story to your local newspaper, and they only have room to use some of it, so they’ll use your most important stuff at the top first before cutting your story. continued on Page 52
50 Winter 2021 | www.TSPRA.org
