Reuters recently ran a story that begins this way: "Riverstone Holdings LLC, a private equity firm that focuses on energy and power sectors, said it would sell U.S.-based oil and gas explorer Rock Oil Holdings LLC to SM Energy Co ( SM.N ) for $980 million in cash." Surely that sounds boring to most of you, dear readers. One point that may make the lede interesting, for observers of the news media, is the choice whereby the story was made to be about Riverstone Holdings, the PE firm. The other two firms are direct and indirect object, "to sell" is the predicate. Riverstone is the subject. [By the way, "lede" is standard journo jargon for "lead paragraph," as distinct from "lead story" for which the standard spelling is retained.] Was there an alternative? Of course there was! More than one, surely, but the one that comes immediately to my mind would read, "SM Energy Co is purchasing Rock Oil Holdings LLC from ...."...
