ABC Radio National

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Tampa, as the name of a Norwegian freighter, needs italics.
The captain's name: Arne Rinnan. The Indonesian ferry that sank: Palapa 1.

acronym for Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle

'...a new study tasked with judging the results of these programs...' There is no such verb as to task except in the worst management-speak dictionaries. Even if there were, the study itself couldn't have been 'tasked', only the authors thereof. So we need this rewrite: '...a new study looking at the results of these programs...'

Tas, Tassie

a taut psychological thriller ... I was taught that at school

saying the same thing twice using different words, as in '...closing the case means it won't be re-examined again.' Either 're-examined' or 'examined again' Not both. Other tautologies often found: 'And also we speak to...' '8.30 am Thursday morning...' 'new innovation'.

but teacup, teabag, teapot, teaspoon

30C (85F) for oven temperatures and weather ... you can spell it out, as in '40-degree heat' or 'it must have been 40 degrees in there' but don't bother with the little round degree symbol.

'a basic tenet of the therapeutic community movement is that people are responsible for themselves...' Nothing to do with tenants, please...

'tenpin' is one word

on tenterhooks (not tender hooks)

should not be capitalised except in Northern Territory (NT) or Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

two words

In this example from our website, the use of 'that' seems strange. I would like people that are making the budget decisions to realise the importance of... Use 'who' when talking about people.

'There's been reports of looting...' In rapid speech this might pass, but in formal writing we need agreement between verb and noun phrase — 'There have been reports of looting.'

trademark, so capitalise

using 'they' to avoid s/he or 'he or she' in gender-sensitive writing is accepted, even when you're referring to one person.

not thin edge of the wedge

one word, but 30-something, 40-something hyphenated

news feeds traditionally spell out thousand numbers as '30 thousand' for extra clarity. This is useful for a radio script but should be re-written for online publication as 30,000.

...the Obama administration is in the final throes of deciding... not throws

1989 massacre

use am and pm or morning and afternoon/evening. Never both at once. Use numerals and In formal writing put a space between the time and pm/am: 6.30 pm, 7 am.

The Times is the original national daily published in the UK. Others include The New York Times, The Irish Times, and The Times of India. But there's no such paper as The London Times, even though New Yorkers may refer to it that way. If you want to be specific, better to write 'the UK Times', with only 'Times' in italics.

Please do not use all-caps for titles, names, or anything else—it's too much like shouting. Book, play, TV or radio show and film titles appear in italics and song, article, poem or short story titles appear in single inverted commas.

a disaster might simply take its toll on a vulnerable community

imperial unit of mass (ton) approximately 1016 kilograms; metric unit of mass (tonne) 1000 kilograms. There are adjustments to do with long or short tons in shipping but for general use, ton and tonne are very close. Speakers from the US say ton, and those from Europe say tonne.

'...he also wants each country to commit to an ambitious strategy to replant forests to lock up carbon.' This particular mix of prepositions and infinitives makes for a very spiky sentence. Replacing just one 'to' with an 'of' will help: '...he also wants each country to commit to an ambitious strategy of replanting forests to lock up carbon.'

legal term

German tart

not tragic-comedy

double S

(American spelling is traveler)

as in 'what a trouper' ... but swear like a trooper

caused by underwater earthquake, not the same as a tidal wave

one word, as in 'signs of a turnaround'

no apostrophe, please ... same goes for CDs, MPs and so on

(American spelling is tire)