Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/308

 (3)

CUT IN SCHEDULE "K" IS PROBABLE

(4)

CURLERS PLAN BON SPIEL IN MARCH

The use of unemphatic words, like "of," "to," "for," "and," "but," "if," "a," "the," at the end of parts of the top deck is not desirable, as in this position they are given prominence and emphasis out of all proportion to their importance. Typographical limitations and the exigencies of rapid headline writing, however, result not infrequently in their appearance in these positions. Whenever it is possible, they should be avoided at the end of parts of the top deck.

Punctuation. Punctuation in headlines and subheads follows the accepted rules. When marks are not absolutely necessary for clearness, they should be omitted. In the first deck, and in cross-line heads, independent sentences not connected by conjunctions are separated by semicolons; for example:

HATTERS GUILTY OF BOYCOTTING; FINED $222,000

In other decks dashes are usually used to separate independent unconnected statements. Care should be taken to avoid a dash at the end of one of the parts of a deck. The use of the dash is shown in the following example: