Concluding and editing a journalistic report about a climate protest | Exit Quiz | Oak National Academy

Match each type of sentence to its example.

• journalist's opinion

• Professor Li noted, "Cars contribute to greenhouse gas emissions."

• direct speech

• Cars are just dreadful: they contribute to climate change.

• reported speech

• Emissions from cars contribute to climate change.

• statement of fact

• Professor Li noted that cars contribute to climate change.

Answer explanation

In a journalistic news report, the journalist generally avoids giving their own opinion. Instead, they give statements of fact and they include different people's perspectives using direct and reported speech.

Which sentences below are punctuated correctly?

• "For now," he explained, "we have put construction on hold."

• "For now, we have put construction on hold" he explained.

• "For now," he explained "we have put construction on hold."

• "For now, we have put construction on hold," he explained.

Answer explanation

We always have punctuation before the closing inverted commas. If the reporting clause comes before or in the middle of the direct speech, it is followed by a comma.

Which sentences are punctuated correctly?

• Alison Hughes a council spokesperson explained her views.

• We know some people are upset, but others are in favour of the bypass.

• Alison Hughes, a council spokesperson, explained her views.

• We know some people are upset but others are in favour of the bypass.

Answer explanation

We can use commas around parenthesis and to demarcate clauses and phrases. Here, we have used a comma to demarcate the main clauses in a compound sentence and to demarcate parenthesis inserted into a sentence.

Which sentences below use colons and semi-colons correctly?

• The council is in favour: the protestors are opposed.

• The council is in favour; the protestors are opposed.

• The council is in favour: of the bypass.

• The council is in favour: it believes the bypass will reduce congestion.

Answer explanation

A colon is used to introduce an explanation. A semi-colon can connect any two closely-related complete sentences.

Which cohesive device has been used in this sentence? 'The meeting, which is due to take place on Wednesday evening at City Hall, will be open to the public.'

• relative complex sentence

• colon

• parenthesis in brackets

• adverbial complex sentence

Answer explanation

Any type of complex sentence contains a subordinate clause. A relative complex sentence contains a relative clause, starting with a relative pronoun like 'who' or 'which'.

Which sentence uses vocabulary appropriate for a journalistic report?

• Until then, there won't be any trees removed.

• Until then, the tree removal has been put on hold.

• Until then, thank goodness, no trees will be removed.

Answer explanation

We usually avoid giving our own opinion as the journalist and we avoid using contractions in statements of fact. We may use contractions when recording direct speech.