News Leads

Which of the following does not describe an effective lead?

• has impact

• usually has one sentence

• comes to the point slowly

• grabs the reader

How are facts arranged in inverted-pyramid style?

• from less important to more important

• from more important to less important

• from slowly building to the most interesting facts

• with crucial facts equally distributed throughout the story

Which of the following is not an advantage of inverted-pyramid writing?

• It is a natural way to get readers' interest.

• It enables the hurried reader to get important information quickly.

• It aids the headline writer.

• It gets unimportant information out of the way first.

What type of lead does the best job of presenting important information in the first sentence?

• tease lead

• question lead

• quote lead

• summary lead

What kind of lead coaxes readers into a story by making them want to know what the lead is referring to?

• quote lead

• tease lead

• quote lead

• summary lead

What important error spoils the follow lead?

A note to all seniors. The senior prom will take place on May 9 at 8pm in the newly renovated Starlight Ballroom of the Belden-Stratford Hotel.

• biased presentation

• sentence fragment

• too many details

• incorrect pronoun reference

What is wrong with the following lead?

With the cherry trees along the Potomac in full blossom and a soft breeze carrying warm, perfumed air from the south, a tanned and vigorous President Roosevelt announced late Friday afternoon that US troops won another critical sea battle in the Pacific.

• incorrect grammar

• lack of concrete detail

• insufficient content

• delay in getting to the point

What error spoils the following lead?

What important school official spoke to the school board last Friday at 8pm on the subject of truancy?

• too much information

• question format

• incorrect subject-verb agreement

• focus on feature-type news

How might the following lead be improved?

The Parents' Club announced yesterday the formation of a task force to handle the school's most important problems.

• by adding specific, concrete details

• by making the lead briefer

• by adding general information

• by rewriting it as a quote lead

How do news reporters maintain their objectivity?

• by keeping their opinions out of their stories

• by eliminating unimportant facts

• by presenting their views in the lead

• by using inverted-pyramid writing consistently