The Associated Press Guide to News Writing Chapter 7 Review


Attributing quotes is an important thing in the news industry. Attributive verbs compliment the tone of a quote. In chapter 7 of Rene J. Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing, he says the best attributive verbs are shot, clear, neutral, and unfailingly accurate. This week we will be looking at chapter 7 of The Associated Press Guide to News Writing: Pitfalls: Attributive Verbs and Loaded Words.

Words have a time and a place and attributive verbs are no different. Cappon expresses the importance of good attributive verbs due to how they affect a quote. Cappon writes that attributive verbs must be plan and neutral.

Loaded words are also something Cappon talks about in this chapter. Cappon explains that some words can carry news writers beyond what they intended to say and import value judgments into stories where they don’t belong. Certain terms and words can have a double meaning and can affect how sentence is portrayed. The readers of these sentences may interpret them differently therefore Capon insists on avoiding the use of loaded words.

Overall this chapter was short and straight to the point. Cappon explains what the chapter is about and what the learning writer should take away from the chapter. The purpose of the chapter serves it function of explaining that attributive words should be plain and neutral and that loaded words need to be avoided. This chapter is another excellent addition to Cappon’s guidebook.

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