Internship Insider: Comments, Stats & “Hammer Grammar”

Here are some highlights from this week’s mailbag in the Bleacher Report Sports Writing Internship program.

Is it okay to prompt my readers to comment on my article?

Conversing with your readers is great, but you don’t necessarily need the “tell me what you think” prompt at the end of your article.  It’s basically deadwood, as your readers already know there’s a “comments” section.

What does it mean when an editor tells me to ”make my analogies more specific?”

For example, you could allude to five players who will “make this season a success.”

However, what is a successful season? 10 wins? An NFC championship? Super Bowl or bust?  Define and explain such assertions.

How do I write out stats?

When written out, the names of stats should generally not be capitalized, unless the name is an acronym: wins, strikeouts, walks, etc., but ERA.

Hammar Grammar Time:

- Adverbs ending in “ly” should not be hyphenated, as there exists no possibility for reader confusion (adverbs always modify the following adjective/verb/adverb) = “Texas is a very wealthy, very heavily supported school.”

- Generic championship constructions should not be capitalized = “…expects national championships in every sport.”

- Use commas to separate two or more coordinate adjectives that describe the same noun = “…(third round with the new, screwy format)…”

- A comma is needed before conjunctions (and/but/or) that are introducing clauses that contain a new subject AND verb (but not just one or the other).

- All numbers in headlines are presented in numeral form, even numbers under 10.  For all other instances, spell out any numbers below 10.

Joel Cordes is Bleacher Report’s Internship Program Feedback Editor. Each week he includes some hints, tips and answers in an email to those participating in the B/R Sports Writing Internship, the highlights of which are shared with the B/R Blog.