Why do broadcast news journalists, especially on TV, scrupulously avoid any form of the verb to "be"? And why do they use present participles (the -ing form of verbs, as in "She was running"), or gerunds (the -ing form of a verb that functions as a noun, as in "She liked running"), to accomplish that avoidance? A curious question becoming a big problem: newscasters sounding like headlines. That not good, as this excellent article shows: http://www.newslab.org/2012/01/17/tv-news-needs-verbs/. Read More