English Vocabulary and Grammar for Journalism

Posted on Jan 31, 2025 in English

Professions and Occupations

Assistant, student, blogger, reporter, politician, journalist, editor, writer, inventor, photographer, servant, musician, cyclist, actor, traveler

Adverbs

  • Carefully – cuidadosamente
  • Fast – rápidamente
  • Silently – silenciosamente
  • Suddenly – de repente
  • Truthfully – verdaderamente

False Cognates

  • Actually – really
  • Embarrassed – ashamed
  • Sympathetic – understanding
  • Optimistic – positive
  • Pretended – tried to make people believe something that wasn’t true
  • Rare – uncommon; scarce

Potentially Confusing Words

  • Notices – notas / News – noticias
  • Success – éxito / Event – evento
  • Discussion – charla / Argument – discusión
  • Recorded – registrar / Remembered – recordar
  • Educated – que tiene estudios / Polite – educado
  • Eventually – finalmente / Temporarily – temporalmente

Journalism Vocabulary

Paparazzi, press photographers, editor, tabloid, printing, reporters, publishes, articles, journalist, newsagent, reports, headlines

Emotions (Adjectives)

  • Concerned
  • Sensitive
  • Confused
  • Upset
  • Embarrassed
  • Worried

Problems (Verbs)

  • Arrest
  • Help
  • Be honest
  • Lie
  • Break the law
  • Protect
  • Cheat
  • Punish
  • Commit a crime
  • Steal
  • Copy
  • Tell the truth
  • Get caught

Showing Concern

  • What’s the matter?
  • Are you OK?

Explaining Concern

  • I’ve got a problem.
  • The trouble is that…
  • Let me tell you what happened…
  • I don’t know what to do.

Asking for Advice

  • Can you give me some advice?
  • What would you do?
  • What should I do?
  • Should I / Shouldn’t I…?

The Passive Voice

Use

We use the passive voice when the action is more important than the person or thing which performed the action.

Form

We form the passive with the correct tense of the verb be and the past participle of the verb. When we change an active sentence into a passive sentence, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

Example

  • Active: The police arrested the men.
  • Passive: The men were arrested by the police.

The Passive + By

In passive sentences, we use by:

  • When we want to say who or what performs an action.
  • Before the agent of a passive sentence.

Example: Larry was met by amazed onlookers.

Get / Have Something Done

Have/get (any tense) + object + past participle.

Examples:

  • I’m having my computer repaired.
  • I’ve got my hair cut.

We use have something done / get something done to talk about actions that we are unable to do ourselves, or prefer not to do ourselves, and that another person or a professional usually does for us.

We can use any tense with this structure:

  • We’re having the office decorated.
  • They haven’t had their flat painted yet.

Passive Voice Examples

  • People speak Portuguese in Brazil. / Portuguese is spoken in Brazil.
  • The government is planning a new road. / A new road is being planned by the government.
  • My grandfather built this house in 1943. / This house was built in 1943 by my grandfather.
  • Picasso was painting Guernica. / Guernica was being painted by Picasso.
  • The cleaner has cleaned the office. / The office has been cleaned by the cleaner.
  • He had written three books before 1867. / Three books had been written before 1867.

Passive Voice Practice

Passive: to be + past participle

  • A helicopter pilot photographed the 30-meter wave.
  • The helicopter crew rescued everyone on the ship.
  • The wave injured two sailors.

Get/Have Something Done Practice

  • I’m going to have it fixed tomorrow.
  • Did you have your photo taken with Beyoncé?
  • No. I got my hair cut.