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Can't believe they wrote that....

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by alleyallen, Mar 13, 2007.

  1. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    To be honest, Double Espresso, it's not so much an issue of the phrase being overused. More a matter of, are you kidding me? Why on earth would you put that in your story?

    However, I totally agree with the Cindarella concept. There are other ways to say it.
     
  2. melock

    melock Well-Known Member

    Thank you! You must understand my pain.
     
  3. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Re: Can\'t believe they wrote that....

    I do, believe me I do.
     
  4. Please elaborate. I'm not trying to be a smartass -- it's just that I usually use the first one and if I'm going to change it I'd like to know why it's not grammatically correct.
     
  5. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Subject goes before the verb. View it as a sentence (in mini form). You would never say, for example, "dunked Jordan."
     
  6. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    Thank you! If you go back and read copy with an eye for this word, it can be removed 75 percent of the time.
     
  7. melock

    melock Well-Known Member

    She shoots, she scores!

    "That was a great pass I got there," Sportschick said. "It was easy after that."
     
  8. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I used to be a said-inverter. Then I realized spending time trying to decide which form to use took away time I could use to make a story better.
    I've noticed most of these pet peeves stem from writers' natural dislike of repeating the same word over and over in a story. Upon further review in my new career as a reader, I realize when I read a game story I don't care about or even notice repetition of common nouns.
     
  9. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Yes, not to mention that "said Queefnugget" is passive voice; and "Queefnugget said" is active voice. We should always strive for active.
     
  10. Mighty_Wingman

    Mighty_Wingman Active Member

    Plus -- and this is the rationale I always use -- "said Sportschick" makes the reader wait that much longer to find out exactly who said it. It's the same reason attributions shouldn't be tacked on at the end of a long quote, but rather stuck at the end of one of the first few sentences.
     
  11. melock

    melock Well-Known Member

    Glad we're clearing all this up. Can somebody send a memo to my SE!
     
  12. Makes sense. I don't know why I had never thought of it in such simple terms.

    Consider it changed in my copy from now on (ending sentences with prepositions is cool).
     
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