The Associated Press Guide to News Writing Chapter 4 Review


Like in any writing sentences are important. Long sentences can be too convoluted and become less readable. The trick is to know how to shorten long sentences and turn them into functional components that are simple. This is exactly what we will be looking at this week in the fourth chapter of Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing: The Case for the Period.

This chapter focuses on the importance of directness for sentences in news writing. Cappon admits that there is not really a limit on how many words make a perfect sentence. Cappon states that when a sentence length climbs above 20 words the writer risks making the sentence convoluted to the readers. However, he does believe the sweet spot length of a sentence is about 16 to 20 words.  

Cappon again tells the reader the importance of creating a transparent message in their writing. This time he does it by expressing the importance of having short sentences that get straight to the point. Cappon succeeds in teaching the reader this by showing examples of how to properly trim bloated sentences to short condense sentences. Cappon succeeds in maintain his message while continuing his lesson. Overall, this chapter was straightforward to the point of the lesson and gave good examples to convey Cappon’s message for the chapter. This was another good addition to Cappon’s guidebook.

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