Some writing coaches suggest starting to approach the lead by writing a short phrase of a few words, a headline, that sums up the story.
Rants questioning Mr. Bush's veracity or military record, or denouncing his "creed of greed," in Mr. Kerry's phrase of a few months ago, are all very much out.
In the book business, the words "a life" mean a biography, but the phrase has a deeper, more universal meaning, reflected on a trivial level by the catch phrase of a few years ago that admonished a person to get one.
In a series of posts to Twitter and Facebook, Rutledge ran the numbers, breaking down the disputed passages into distinct phrases of a few words each ― "word is your bond," "because we want our children," "willingness to work for them" and so on.
Then some grizzled senior aide would toss the draft back to me and say: "Uh, it's fine, but you need to add a little more rhetoric" -- as if back in my office, I had a spice rack with little bottles of phrases, a few sprinkles of which could disguise the taste of what I'd written.
The Vice-President used the phrase "serious consequences" as a warning to Iran about its nuclear program; Greg Djerejian, of Belgravia Dispatch, hears echoes of the same phrase, used a few years back, when Cheney was discussing Iraq, and he notes a sharp ratcheting up of war rhetoric from the White House.
Some of you may grimace at the phrase "states' rights"; a few of you, possibly wearing pointy white hoods, may be more inclined to pump your fists in the air; and the rest of you are probably wondering what it means for states (as opposed to, you know, people) to have rights.
Vocal or instrumental, it is accompanied by a drone (sustained-tone) instrument and often also by a melodic instrument that repeats the soloist's phrases after a lag of a few seconds.
I remember looking up a definition of the phrase 'unconventional hydrocarbons' a few years ago and getting the rather unhelpful '…hydrocarbons produced in a way that is not conventional…' but in fact this isn't so far from the truth.
The lead-up talks this year have been held up by wrangling over fine wording, the placement of a few phrases, details of language and intent.
But if you're offended by a film or don't want your kids to watch it because of a few phrases or scenes, I have a hard time believing you'd enjoy the film with this content removed.
