67. Don’t say “Miss Smith presided at the piano.” She merely played the piano.
68. Don’t say that “this town was thrown into a state of great excitement,” “business was entirely suspended,” “a great sensation was created,” or any other of the conventional things. They are usually untrue and never interesting.—From the Chicago Record-Herald’s Instructions to Correspondents.
69. Don’t speak of “tasty” decorations. They are tasteful.
70. Don’t fall into a groove in sentence building. Seek variety. A series of three or four sentences each beginning with “the” is monotonous.
71. Don’t begin a story with “there is” when you can find a better way.
72. Don’t try to show superior knowledge by writing above the heads of your readers. News writing should express, not conceal, thought. Leave stilted phrases for the campaign orator.
73. Don’t use technical terms that are not generally understood.
74. Don’t say “he plead guilty.” The past tense of “plead” is “pleaded.”
75. Don’t use “further” referring to distance; the right word here is “farther,” as “a mile farther east.” “Further” should be used in other senses, as “further, he said, etc.”
76. Don’t say “partially” for “partly.” “Partially” means with prejudice. A building is partly of brick.