oughts. The following sentence illustrates a
writer's failure to avail himself of position for emphasis:

|This afternoon reports that she was still missing |
|from home were being circulated. |

But _this afternoon_ and _circulated_ are not the important concepts.
_Reports_ and _still missing from home_ are the emphatic ideas and
should be put first and last respectively. Thus:

|Reports were being circulated this afternoon that |
|she was still missing from home. |

So with the following:

|This morning fifty convicts of the Kansas State |
|penitentiary were placed in solitary confinement, |
|accused of being leaders in a mutiny yesterday in |
|the coal mines operated by the penitentiary. |

_This morning_ and _mines operated by the penitentiary_ are not,
however, the important ideas. A better arrangement of the sentence
reads:

|Accused of being leaders in a mutiny yesterday in |
|the penitentiary coal mines, fifty convicts of the |
|Kansas State penitentiary were placed this morning |
|in solitary confinement. |

Similarly, a phrase or clause transferred from its normal position in
the sentence will attract attention to itself. Note the increased
emphasis upon _the matter was purely political_ in the following
sentence by transference of it from its normal position at the end:

|Simpson, who was in the uniform of a lieutenant when|
|arrested at New Orleans, said the matter was purely |
|political. |

|That the matter was purely political was the |
|statement made by Simpson, who was in the uniform of|
|a lieutenant when arrested at New Orleans. |

=166. Proportion for Emphasis.=--The emphasis of a sentence in a news
story varies in inverse proportion to its length. Emphasis is gained by
brevity. A prolix style tires the reader; and newspaper space is
valuable. The reporter, therefore, must make his sentences short and
pointed. He must condense, must reduce predication to a minimum. As few
verbs as possible and all verbs active is a slogan in the news room. It
is an error from a newspaper standpoint to include in a sentence any
word that may be omitted without altering or obscuring the sense. One
of the first requisites for success in journalism is ability to present
facts with a minimum of