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Essential English

Page 11

by Harold;Crawford Gillan Evans


  lend out

  less essential

  link together

  little sapling

  lonely isolation

  made out of

  major breakthrough

  may possibly

  meet together

  men who are unemployed

  merge together

  more preferable

  more superior

  mutual co-operation

  nearly inevitable

  necessary requisite

  needless to say

  need necessarily

  never at any time

  new beginning

  new creation

  new innovation

  new recruits

  new record

  new renovations

  new tradition

  nobody else but

  not at all

  not generally available everywhere

  old adage

  old veterans

  one of the last remaining

  on the occasion when

  on the question of

  original source

  over and done with

  overtake a slower-moving vehicle

  pay off the debt

  pare down

  partially harmless

  passing pedestrian/car

  passing phase

  past history

  patently obvious

  peculiar freak

  penetrate into

  periods of time

  petrol filling station

  polish up

  poor state of disrepair

  prejudge in advance

  presence on the scene

  pressing for the imposition of a 30 mph limit

  prominent and leading

  proposed project

  protrude out

  quite empty

  quite perfect

  radical transformation

  raze to the ground

  recalled back

  recommended back

  reduce down

  regular monthly meeting

  repeat again

  resigned his position as

  results so far achieved

  returned back

  revert back

  reward back

  root cause

  saved from his earnings

  seldom ever

  self-confessed

  separate apart

  serious danger

  seriously incline

  settle up

  short space of time

  sink down

  skirt around

  small in size

  smile on his face

  spent his whole life

  staunch supporter

  still persists/continues

  strangled to death

  sufficient enough

  summoned to the scene

  sunny by day

  surgeon by occupation

  surrounding circumstances

  temporary reprieve

  the court was asked to decide as to whether or not

  throughout the whole length and breadth

  to consume drink

  topped the 200 mark

  total contravention

  total extinction

  totally destroyed

  track record (unless it is the running track)

  true facts

  uncommonly strange

  unite together

  universal panacea

  usual customs

  utterly indestructible

  value judgments

  vandals wilfully broke

  violent explosion

  vitally necessary

  watchful eye

  ways and means

  whether or not

  whole of the country

  widow of the late

  win out

  worst ever

  young infant

  young teenager

  Stale Expressions

  Newspapers used to be rank with cliché. Few in the following list survive in the news pages. They lurk more in sports and features, especially in the form distinguished by an inevitable adjective or adverb (which is one coupled so inevitably with a noun as to have lost any separate life – breathless calm, lively admiration, bewildering variety). Inevitable adjectives and adverbs should be struck out and the noun left to fend for itself. Other stale expressions in the list can generally be felled at a stroke, too. But where other words are needed, beware of substituting an over-contrived simile or metaphor just for the sake of brightness.

  acid test

  aired their troubles

  all walks of life

  appear on the scene

  armed to the teeth

  at pains to explain

  beat a hasty retreat

  bees in his bonnet

  beggars description

  bewildering variety

  bitter end

  blaze (for fire)

  blazing inferno

  blissful ignorance

  bolt from the blue

  breakneck speed

  breakthrough

  breathless silence

  bring up to date

  brook no delay

  brutal reminder

  brute force

  built in safeguard

  burning issue

  calm before the storm

  chequered career

  cheered to the echo

  cherished belief

  city fathers

  clean pair of heels

  cold collation

  colourful scene

  commendably patient

  concerted move

  conspicuous by its absence

  cool as a cucumber

  coveted trophy

  crack troops

  crowded to capacity

  crude fact

  crying need

  curate’s egg

  dame fashion

  daring daylight robbery

  dark horse

  dashed to the rescue

  dastardly deed

  dazzling sight

  deafening crash

  deciding factor

  deftly manipulate

  dig in their heels

  ding-dong struggle

  doctors fought

  dog in the manger

  64,000-dollar question

  dotted the landscape

  dramatic new move

  dreaming spires

  drew a line

  fair sex

  fall between two stools

  fall on deaf ears

  far cry

  fickle fortune

  filthy lucre

  finishing touches

  fit and bronzed

  fly in the ointment

  foregone conclusion

  from time immemorial

  gay abandon

  gay cavalier

  getting into full swing

  given the green light

  glared daggers

  goes without saying

  gory details

  grim reaper

  hardy souls

  headache (for problem)

  heap coals of fire

  heartfelt thanks

  heart of gold

  high dudgeon

  hook, line and sinker

  hot pursuit

  hub of the universe

  inextricably linked

  in full swing

  inspiring/unsporting display

  internecine strife

  in the nick of time

  in the same boat

  in the twinkling of an eye

  iron out the difficulty/problem

  lashed out

  last but not least

  last-ditch effort

  leaps and bounds

  leave no stone unturned

  leave severely alone

  left up in the air

  lending a helping hand

  like rats in a trap

  limped into por
t

  lock, stock and barrel

  long arm of the law

  long years

  loom up

  lucky few

  luxury flat/yacht

  mantle of snow

  man worthy of his steel

  marked contrast

  marked improvement

  marshal support

  matter of life and death

  mercy dash

  milady

  move into high gear

  never a dull moment

  news leaked out

  nipped in the bud

  none the worse for wear

  not to be undone

  not to put too fine a point on it

  official capacity

  open secret

  order out of chaos

  over and above

  paid the penalty

  painted a grim picture

  paramount importance

  part and parcel

  patience of Job

  paying the piper

  pillar of the Church

  pinpoint the cause

  place in the sun

  pool of blood

  poured scorn

  powder keg

  pretty kettle of fish

  pros and cons

  proud heritage

  psychological moment

  raced/rushed to the scene

  raining in sheets

  rats in a trap

  red faces

  red-letter day

  red rag to a bull

  reduced to matchwood

  reins of government

  remedy the situation

  rose to great heights

  sadder but wiser

  sea of upturned faces

  selling like hot cakes

  shackles which fetter

  sigh of relief

  sons of the soil

  spearheading the campaign

  speculation was rife

  spirited debate

  spotlessly white

  spotlight the need

  square peg in a round hole

  staff of life

  steaming jungle

  stick out like a sore thumb

  storm of protest

  storm-tossed

  stuck to his guns

  sweeping changes

  taking the bull by the horns

  taking the situation in his stride

  terror-stricken

  this day and age

  through their paces

  throwing a party

  tiny tots

  tongue in cheek

  top-level session

  tower of strength

  true colours

  turned turtle

  unconscionably long time

  up in arms

  upset the apple cart

  vanish into thin air

  voiced approval

  wealth of information

  weighty matter

  whirlwind tour

  widespread anxiety

  winds of change

  wreak havoc

  writing on the wall

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Structure of a News Story – Intros

  ‘Under the impression your peregrinations in this metropolis have not as yet been extensive and you might have difficulty in penetrating the arcana of the modern Babylon – in short,’ said Mr. Micawber, in a burst of confidence, ‘you might lose your way.’

  CHARLES DICKENS

  Hemingway, I read once, wrote the last page of A Farewell to Arms sixteen times before he was satisfied. It is the beginnings that give newspaper writers all the trouble. One does not wish to suggest Hemingway was not trying, but sixteen shots at the first sentence or paragraph of a news story is nothing, as is proved every day by the mortality tables of copydesk executives. Any effort to get the beginning right in a newspaper story is worthwhile, because the reader will stop there if the writer fails. What bothers journalists when they sit down to write their first paragraph (called an ‘intro’ in Britain and a ‘lead’ in America) is that it seems to them they are being asked to sum up in one paragraph a drama akin to King Lear crossed with My Fair Lady. If it is not that kind of story, it is the other kind, the fourteenth report of the sanitation and waterways committee, and everyone knows it is easier to follow Lear than the mental workings of a county surveyor committing himself or herself to prose. So despite the constant injunctions for intros to be kept short and to the point, reporters will keep coming up with thoughts impossibly complicated for a newspaper, and text editors will have to keep putting them right.

  Before we get into this quagmire, let us glimpse the kind of solid ground provided by the late Eugene Doane in the New York Sun:

  Chicago, Oct 31: James Wilson lighted a cigarette while bathing his feet in benzene. He may live.

  Eugene Doane’s intro is a rare piece. It manages to tell the whole story from beginning to end. That is splendid, but only the brevity is commended for copying. To sum up such a sequence in two sentences is impossible in most stories. Until somebody like James Wilson does it again and somebody like Doane is around to record it, the wise reporter and text editor should concentrate the hard news intro on effects rather than origins, on what happened rather than how, when or where. They should offer a short sharp sentence conveying a maximum of impact in a minimum of phrase. Of course concentrating tersely on effects can be overdone. James Thurber once rebelled and wrote:

  Dead. That’s what the man was when he was picked up.

  The practical aim for journalists is somewhere between Thurber’s cannonball and Doane’s epigrammatic essay. An intro as short as 17 words can be inviting:

  The first time 53-year-old Sidney Anderson was seen drunk was the last time he was seen alive.

  That intro would have been spoiled if an address or a date or a location or the coroner’s name had been added. Many offices lay down a maximum number of words for an intro. That sounds primitive, but is necessary and helpful. It forces the writer to essentials. Where longer intros are tolerated, reporters and text editors easily drift into writing the comprehensive unselective intro, with grammatical constructions that are invariably confusing.

 

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