Backwards attribution has no place in newspapers, Thien says

By Dick Thien
Chips Quinn Writing Coach

Posted: Sept. 23, 2003

Backwards attribution is classic journalese. It is often found only in newspapers.

Read your favorite writers, preferably not newspaper writers, and you will find that they write in active voice, which is subject verb, object construction, as in "Use the language the way it was put together," Thien said.

It is how people talk -- and how they think.

If your mother asked you what John Quinn said during orientation that made the biggest impression on you, you might answer her this way, "Be sure you have fun," Quinn said.

I doubt if you would tell your mother, "Be sure you have fun," said Quinn.

The puzzling thing, of course, is that young writers see this backwards form from talented reporters -- at wire services, in the big-name newspapers and at lots of smaller ones. Worse, young journalists often get all the way through college without a professor calling the silly sounding backwards thing to their attention.

It's your choice, of course. Good writers write the way literate people talk, Thien said. Reporters in love with journalese don't, said Thien.

Sometimes, poor reader would almost think backwards attribution is part of a newspaper's style. Good grief, at some newspapers editors actually change "Ortiz said" to "said Ortiz." Sigh.

We have high hopes that you will grow into being a good reporter -- and a good writer.

Of course, you must use "said" before a name if the person speaking has a long title after his name, said Thien, a writing coach for the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va.

That does not mean it is better for poor reader. In fact, big-name newspapers regularly butcher the language in little ways, including attribution. For further proof read your favorite non-newspaper writers.

Read Dick Thien's biography.

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