Exercise 1: Copy Editing

INSTRUCTIONS: Use the proper copy-editing symbols to correct all the mechanical, spelling
and AP style errors in the following sentences. None of the possessives have been formed
for you.

During the 1990s, a nine year old girl in Ruston Louisiana won a trophy, 5000 dollars, and a trip to the
United States Capital Bl;dg.

Thomas Shriver Junior an employee of the Roess Company in Fairbanks Alaska has a Ph.D. in
economics and will be here Mon, Tues., & Wed.

Prof. Rebecca Malone of Forty-two Fifth Avenue works in the History Department and shares an office
in Rm. 247 of the Humanities Bldg.

Afterwards, 7 persons, all United States citizens, testified that the US navy payed the Westinghouse
Corporation $14,200,000 dollars.

“The Washington Post” reported Tue. That the suspect is White, in her 30’s, about 5 ft., 2 inches tall,
and weighs about one hundred pds.

Only one media reported that the President of the National Rifle Assn. met with sixteen members of
the US Congress on August 23, 2008.

During the 1960’s, a committee of the United States Congress estimated that the program would cost
$7 to $8.4 billion dollars.

The boy, age 7, had 42 cents and said his mother, the Mayor, will attend the P.T.A meeting Nov. 28 if
the temperature remains above 0.

It was an unusual phenomena. During the twentieth century, the odds were 9 to 1 that 80 % of the
Mayors would be reelected to a 2nd term.

Moving backwards, the 14 yr old babysitter in martin Tn. Said goodbye, then picked up the bible and
ran towards her home on Roe St.
Exercise 3: Copy Editing
INSTRUCTIONS: Using the proper copy-editing symbols provided on the inside cover of
your textbook, correct the errors in the following stories. Except for some obvious errors,
the stories’ style (the abbreviations, punctuation and spelling, for example) is correct.
There is one exception, however. You will have to form all the possessives. None have
been formed for you.

Girl Scouts

the countys Girl Scout Council no loonger will acept any checks during its annual cookie sale-a-
thon.
During its last sale-a-thon, the council lost $4,284 due to worthlesschecks.
“That may not sound like a lot, but its a serious loss for us,” said Linda Goree, the Girl Scoust
county executive. “It cuts into our profits, but al so wastes too many hours of our timme.”
Next year, Goree said, thecountys Girl Scouts will accept only cash
Two factors agravated the prov problem during the scouts last sale-a-thon, Goree
continued. first, more pepople paid by check. Second, a larger percentage of the checks teh Girl
Scouts received bounced.
“Some people pay by check beause they don’t have the cash, ” Goree said. “Or, they want to
place a large order. We have people who place orders for $100 or more, and thosse poeple are
especially likely to pay by check. we also receive checks for a little as one or two dollars.”
Scout leaders call people who signed the checks that bounce and, in most cases,ask them to mail neW
checks to the cty. office. The scout leadesr are unable to reach everyone, however. Smoe People
have moved. Other s do not have telephones—or do not seem to answer their tele phones.
“usually its an honest mistake, ad andpeople are embarrassed when we call them,” Goree said.
“THey want to take care of the problem right away. Other people say they want to pay but dont have
the money, and we can usually work something out with them. Unfortunately, there are other people
who get mad at us, like its our fault or something, and refuse to pay. Or, they write new checks that
also bounce. It puts our leadess in a terrible situaton. A Girl Scout leadershouldn’t have to deal
with problems like that. Also, its not a good situation or example for our girls, and that’s the reason
for our ne w policy, why we’ll no longer accept any checks.”

Men’s Longevity Being a middle-aged man and single can be deadly, too sociologists at your
college warned today
The sociologists, Margo Matos and LeeAnne verkler, found that middle-aged men who remain
single double their chances of dying.
For 10 years, Matos and verkler tracked one thoussand men in the state. All of the men were
40 old years at the start of the study, and half were married. Matos and Verkler fuond that 11.7
percent of the men who remained unmarried died before their 50th birthday, compared to only 5.9
percent of themen who remained married.
Some of the maried men were divorced or widowed during the study, and 7.1 percnt of those
who remainedd alone for at least half the period also died.
“We arent sure of all the reasons,” verkler said. “That’s what we’ll look at next. WE think poor
diet plays a role. Also the use of alcohol, smoking, a lack of exercise and low incomes. Men who live
by themselves seem to do more drinking and smoking, and many don’t PREprepare good meals for
themselves. Plus there’s the absence of social support. It ehlps to have someone to talk with,
someone who shpares your li fe and is there to provide help when you need it.”
Matos and Verkler found that men also live longer if they have a roommate. “It doesn’t matter
who the persn is, a parent, child orfreind,” Verkler said. “We’ve found, however,that none of the
alternatives are as conducive to a long life as a stable marriage. those are the man who live the
longest, the men who are happily marrried.”

Outstanding Teacher
Wilma DeCastro is an English teacher at Kennedy High Schol and, six months ago, was named
the city’s “Teacher ofthe Year.” Today she resigned.
“All my life I wanted to be a teachher,” DeCastro said. “Ive really enjoyed it, but I have two
little girls and Can’t afford it any longer. I want a good live for may family, and now wecan’t afford to
buy a decent house in a good neighborhood, a newcar, nice clothes, or so many of the other things we
want. wee skimp on everything, even food.”
There years ago, DeCastro began to sell real estate during her sumer vacations. For th e last
year, she has continued to sell real estate part-time, primarily weakends
“I can’t do it any longer,” she said. ”I can’t wrok two jobs, do a good job at both of the jobbs, and
a.lso have time for my daughters, so I’ve decided to go into real estate full time. I can triple salary
my salary. INN a few years, if I work hard, I should be able to do even better than that. eventually,
I’d like togo into businss for myself.”
Greg Hubbard, superintendent of the city’s school system, said: “Of coures we’re sorry to see
her leave. We’d like to keep her, to be able to pay all our teachers mr more, espec ially our best
teachers. But there’s no moneey for higher salaries. NO one wants to pay higher taxes.”
DeCastro is 28 and started teaching at the high schoo0l six years ago. she aws named
“Teacher OF The Year” because of her popularity, but also because she inspired several studentsto
start a literary maga zine that has won adozenprizes

Heroic Girl
while walking to school this moningmorning, an 11-year-old girl noticed a gunman robbuing two
clerkS in a convenence store on Colonial Drive
The girl, Kathryn Kunze of94 Jamestown Drive, raran to a nearby telepone, dialed 911, then
returned to the store and noticed an empty car par ked naearby withits motor running. she reachedd
inside, shut off the cars motor and took the keys.
“Imagine what the rober thought when he ran out of the storee, jumped into HIS car and
realized the keys weregone,” said Sgt. Tammy Dow. “she was one smart girl, and Brave, too.”
The Gunman went bavck into the stoer and asked the clerks there for the keys to there
cars. Bothclerks, however, said that they had walked to work and did not own a car.
The gunman then walked to a near,by park, and the police Aarrested him there five minutse
later.
William j. Chuey, 27, of 57l0 michigan Ave was charrged with armed robbery.
Polic e officers later questioned the girl at school. “I saw this man with a gun, just like on
telivision” she said. “Then I saw thecar. It was running, and I just figured it was the robbers, so I
took his keys and ran here.”
Kathryn’s mother, said she was p””proud—and frightened—by her daughters actions. “I’Mm
proud she thought so quickly,” Mrs. Lauren Kunze said. “But I don’t wnat her to trfy anything like that
ever again.”

Roadbed Trails
RAilroads have abandoned hundreds of m iles of old roadbeds in the state, and the
governortoday revealed plans to convert the roadbeds into trawils for bicyclists hikers, horseback
riders and runners.
The govenor said her budget for nxextt year will include an extra $10 million for the Departmentof
natural Resources, which will use the money to ac quire and maintainn the trials “The initial
outlay is modest,” the gov. said. “But we hope the program will expand so, in five or 10 years,we’ll
have hundreds of miles of these trials. Eventually, the people using themshould be able to hike or
ride from one end of the state to another.”
A representative for the states railrods said that most will probably agree to sell their
abandoned roadbeds tothe state, provided they receive a fair pricee,
“We aren’t us ing the roadbeds for anything,” he said, “and there aren’t many other
buyers. they were our leasst profitable routes, and that’s why we abandoned them.”
During a press Conference this mohningthis morning, the governor added: “We need more land
for recreation, and this is the prefect solution. wee think we can acquire the roadbeds for a
reasonable price, annd we’ll start with some of the mmost scenic. We’llalso concentrate, at least
initialy, on roadbeds near the state’s population centers, os they’re conveni ent for a majority of the
people using them.”
THE governor said the
biggest expense, after acquiri;ng the roadbeds, will be improving their bridges.. “We’ll need better
flooring and railings to protect the public, and that will cost some money,” she said. The railoads
havve already tor n up the tracks,o selling them for scrap.

Repossessing Cars
Police Chief Tony sullivan Wants to ebgin seizing t he cars driven by drunken drivers.
While testifyingbefore a legislative commmittee in the state capital this morning, Sullivan said
police oficers in the state need the authority to to seize the vehicles used by motorists convicted three
or more times of drunken driving. Sullivans pproposal would al so apply to motorists convicted of
driving with a license suspended or revoked because of drunken drving—and to motorists convicted of
driving undre the Influence of drugs.
“Were runninng across too many repeat offjenders,” sullivan said. “They ignore the laws now in
eff ect, and its time to do something about it. It doesn’t do any good to just take away their
lcenses. They’ll drivewithout one.”
Sullivan said some motorists in the statehave been convicted of drunken driving more than a
dozentimes . “Weve gott peopel who’ve served a year in jail, some who’ve served five years,” Sullivan
said. “It doesn’t seemtodo any good. weather they have a liense or not, they star”t to drink and
drive again as soon as they get out. If wetake away their cars, they’ll havetostop. U nless they’re
ultra-rich, there’s a limit to howmany cars they can afford to buy.”

Tobacco Ban
Beginning next fall, students in the citys public shcools will have to leave their cigarettes and
other tobaco products at home.
The School Board last night voted 6 to 1 to BAN the possession and use of all obacco tobacco
products on school grounds.
“The boards policy will apply to evferyone,” said gary Hubbard, superintendent
of schools. “its not just for ourstudents. The policy will also apply to our teachers, other school
personnel and, in addition, to any visitors using our facilities.”
Students found smoking on school property will be reprimanded for a firs t ofense, detained for
a secnod and ex;pelled for three days for a third. School personnel will be reprimanded by their
principal. Other people wlil be asked to stop using the tobacco products or to leave the school
grounds.
“Previously,” hubbard said, “we allowed stud ents to smokee inn some designated areas both
inside and outside our bldgs.: in our football stadium s, for example. Its badfortheir health, and we
decided last night that we weren’t being consistent. It doesn’t make any sense for us to tell students,
in their classes, about the dangers of smoking, andthan to allow them to smokeunder our
supervision. Besides, We were geting a lot of complaints from nonsmokesr.”

Exercise 13-6 AP style

Edit the following story so that it conforms to AP style.

Make sure you deal with other problems in the story. You
should discuss with your instructor any additional
information you need and incorporate it into the story.
 A majority of people in the state favor the raising
of Federal taxes on cigaretes and alcoholic beverages,
according to the poll conducted by the state’s lagest
newspaper.

The propsed “sin taxes” were endorsed as a means of

raisng tax revenues and to discourage smoking and
drinking, according to the Oct. 25-26 telephone poll of
1,598 adults in a scientific random sample.

Fifty-two per cent said they think state taxes on

cigarettes should be raised, while 41% said they should
not.

The 52 per cent who said cigarettes taxes should be

raised broke down this way: 5 percent said taxes should
be reasied to increase revenues, 10 percent to discourage
smoking and 33 percent both.

Fifty-five per cent said Federal taxes on alcoholic

beverages should be raised broke down this way: 11
percent said taxes should be raised to increase revenues,
9 percent to discourage drinking and 35 percent both.

The state Senate Budget Committee recently drew up a

number of proposals to raise taxes next year, including
one which would double the excise taxes on cigarettes,
liquor, wine and beer.

The proposed increases, which Senate leaders say

will be considered next year, would raise the price of a
pack of cigarettes by 8 cents, the price of a gallon of
liquor by $10.50, a barrel of beer by $9 and a gallon of
wine by 34 cents. These increases will riase the prices
of cigaretts and alcohol significatly over the price in
neighboring states.

Sixty-two percent of the poll respondents said they

drink alcoholic beverages, while 32 percent said they
smoke cigarettes.

the results of the polls can vary from the opinions

of all Americans because of chance variations in the
sample. For a poll based on about 1,600 interviews, the
results are subject to an error margin of 3 percentage
points either way because of chance variations.