Sample test questions
The President left today on the first-leg of a ten day tour of China, japan and southeast Asia.
The Secretary of state will accompany the president on all of his steps.
The correct structure for direct quotes in print is
a. direct quote, verb, speaker
b. speaker, verb, direct quote
c. direct quote, speaker, verb
True or False In a blind lead, the name is given in the lead, but full identification is held off until the second paragraph or even later.
The most common structure for a print news story is the inverted pyramid. That means:
a. the most important information should be in the last part of the story
b. the most important information should be somewhere in the third to fifth paragraphs of the story
c. the writer should not make any judgements about the importance of the information but should tell what happened in chronological order
d. the most important information should be in the first paragraph of the story
What is the preferred verb for attribution? said
What are three verbs of attirbution besides "said"? explained, pointed out, revealed, declared, stated, added, related, asserted, exclaimed, disclosed
What is the correct punctuation for a direct quote?
a. "The Congress should pass this legislation" the president said.
b. "The Congress should pass this legislation", the president said.
c. "The Congress should pass this legislation," the president said.
d. "The Congress should pass this legislation." The president said.
List two technical guidelines for writing a lead for a news story.
a. A lead should be one sentence long.
b. A lead should be a maximum of 30 to 33 words long.
True or False. First- and second-person pronouns may be used in print newswriting, but only in direct quotes.
True or False Journalists usually don’t have to worry about getting the exact words of a person to put into direct quotations; if the words are approximately what the person said, that’s okay.
Using quotes in a story
a. gives the story credibility
b. enlivens the story
c. breaks the story visually for the reader d. all of the above
One of the reasons that attribution is important in a news story is
a. it lends credibility to a story
b. it’s against the law to print a story that’s not attributed
c. attribution makes the writing of a story easier
d. nothing is worth putting in a story unless it must be attributed
Point out means:
a. to call attention to a matter of fact
b. used for formal speeches
c. implies formality
d. to pass along facts
True or False You should use words other than "said" for attribution as much as possible to add variety for your reader.
True or False News writers should use more direct quotes than indirect quotes in a news story for print.
True or False Repeating information in a direct quote that you have already included elsewhere in the story is a good way of emphasizing that information for the reader.
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