Blacklist

3.  PBOC exposes officials’ money laundering tricks

ZSD: I suggest that, except for internationally accepted ones such as UN, US, etc., we should use initials less in news headlines. Acronyms tend to pose an obstacle for readers, leaving them at a loss as to what is being talked about. This is an example. What is PBOC? An average reader will not know, me for one. “The central bank exposes officials’ money laundering tricks” will be easier to understand and simpler for the reader to digest. This is in line with the spirit of journalism, I think.

TBZ: I have a friend who speaks in the lingo of whatever job she is currently working at. Think about it — she uses internal acronyms and internal verbal short-hands which I have no idea about because I work in a different industry. This is the same idea. News headlines should grab the reader’s attention by very briefly capturing the main theme of the entire article. If the headline is long, uninteresting or cannot immediately be understood by the reader, they will move on.

4.  His new bought iPad

ZSD: There is something wrong with the attributive. The combination of the attributive is adverb-plus-past participle with the adverb modifying the past participle. So it should be: his newly bought iPad. Similarly we have: beautifully dressed, well written, the well designed talk show, the beautifully shot film, the masterfully arranged exhibition, the freshly procured land.

TBZ: Here, the native speaker almost fell into error! My tendency — because I love hyphens – would be to throw one in here. Glad I did some research first, because a hyphen can never be used with an “-ly adverb-adjective-noun” construction. However, in many cases, you can use a hyphen to connect two or more words that are all acting as an adjective before a noun. For example: blue-eyed girl or two-year-old child.