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'Tis the (election) season
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Advance voting begins in some states this week, which means election season is fully underway. And yes, "election season" is a term we're recommending you use between now and election week. The reason? The expansion of both mail-in and in-person advance voting has changed norms around elections. And when things change, journalists often need to find new terms that accurately capture the situation. Word choice improves understanding and shifts people's expectations, and in this case, it can help ward off misinformation since the election process itself has become politicized. Journalists play a critical role in getting people accurate, actionable information about voting โ and what comes after they cast their ballots. You can do a deep dive on this topic with this Election SOS resource. And you can get all of this advice and more directly in your newsroom's daily workflow by signing up with Stylebot for free through the Knight Election Hub. โค Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebotโs newsletter.
What a week! People celebrated Presidents' Day, Mardi Gras and Lunar New Year this week, all while the Olympics were happening and Ramadan began. To top it off, there was a solar eclipse on Tuesday. To mark this week, we have some event- and holiday-themed writing tips that you can use through the rest of the week and month: The Olympics closing ceremony is on Sunday. Just like "opening ceremony," "closing ceremony" is not capitalized. Remember, Team USA is an exception to the rule about...
We're going further than we've ever gone before into the difference between farther and further. Many of you have requested that we cover this commonly confused pair of words, and with good reason: "Further" is used a lot when language sticklers would use "farther." OK, so what's the difference? "Farther" is for references to physical distance, while "further" is for figurative descriptions. So to further your fitness goals, you might run farther than you did yesterday. Here are a couple of...
An historical event is taking place today: For the first time, Olympic Torches will light two cauldrons during the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 games. How many errors do you spot in that sentence? The 2026 Olympics kick off today in Italy today, and yes, in a first, two Olympic cauldrons will be lit in the two host cities: Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. That much we know. What's less clear is exactly how to write about it. We count five errors in the opening sentence of this newsletter. We'll...