Keep the reporter or a representative of The News out of the story. It is understood that a reporter and a reporter for The News writes a story that appears in The News.
Write the English language. For sine qua non, write essentials; for de riguer, coup d'etat, coup de grace, Sturm und Drang, au fait and similar phrases use English equivalents. Some exceptions are decollete, fiancee and fiance, and other words which have been taken over into the language. Don't mix languages. Write a day, not per day. As a general rule use per only in the phrase per cent.
Comatose means in a state of profound insensibility, not merely dazed as some writers believe.
Et al. stands for the Latin et alii, et aliae, or et alia, meaning and others. Of course it should never be written et als. to form a fancied plural.
Prone means lying flat and face downward. One can not lie prone on the back. Supine means lying on the back.
Use pseudonym, a good English word, or pen name, and not nom de plume, which isn't even good French. Says L'Intermediaire, a French journal: "We do not know in our language the expression nom de plume. We have the phrase nom de guerre."
Don't use most for almost, as, I am most as tall as you.
Never write kiddies or tots. Write kids when referring to young goats or to children in stories written in a spirit of levity, as, This is the big day for the kids on Belle Isle. Don't try to arouse sympathy for children in unfortunate circumstances by calling them poor little tots, or poor kiddies.
Avoid words borrowed from the yellow-backs, such as, The bullet crashed through his brain, She tripped down the steps. Try such sentences as this on your hisser: "I will not go," he hissed.
In news stories don't use thieves' slang, as, dick, frisk, dip, gat.