Language of Newspaper Headlines Special language Headlines are the short titles above newspaper reports (e.g, RUSSIAN WOMAN LANDS ON T...
Language of Newspaper Headlines
Special language
Headlines are the short titles above newspaper reports
(e.g, RUSSIAN WOMAN LANDS ON THE MOON). The headlines in English-language
newspapers can be very difficult to understand. One reason for this is that newspaper
headlines are often written in a special style, which is very different from
ordinary English. In this style there are some special rules of grammar, and
words are often used in unusual ways.
Grammar
1. Headlines are not always complete sentences. Many
headlines consist of noun phrases with no verb.
E.g.
- MORE WAGE CUTS
- HOLIDAY HOTEL DEATH
- EXETER MAN’S DOUBLE MARRIAGE BID
2. Headlines often contain strings of three, four or more
nouns; nouns earlier in the string modify those that follow
E.g. FURNITURE FACTORY PAY CUT ROW
Headlines like these can be difficult to understand. It
sometimes helps to read them backwards. E.g. FURNITURE FACTOY PAY CUT ROW
refers to a row (disagreement) about a CUT (reduction) in PAY at a FACTORY that
makes FURNITURE.
3. Headlines are leave out articles and the verb be.
E.g.
SHAKESPEARE PLAY IMMORAL SAYS HEADMASTER
WOMAN WALKS ON MOON
4. In headlines, simple tenses are often used instead of
progressive or perfect forms. The simple present is used for both present and
past events.
E.g.
- BLIND GIRL CLIMBS EVEREST (=….has climbed…)
- STUDENTS FIGHT FOR COURSE CHANGES (=… are
fighting…)
The present progressive can be used, especially to talk
about changes. Be is usually dropped.
- BRITAIN GETTING WARMER, SAY SCIENTISTS
- TRADE FIGURES IMPROVING
5. Many headlines are used as both nouns and verbs, and nouns
are often used to modify other nouns (see paragraph 2b). So it is not always
easy to word out the structure of sentence. Compare
E.g.
- US CUTS AID TO THIRD WORLD (=The US reduces its
help_CUTS is a verb, AID is a noun.)
- AID CUTS ROW (=There has been a disagreement about the reduction in aid. AID and
CUTS are both nouns)
- CUTS AID REBELS (=The reduction is helping the
revolutionaries. CUTS is a noun. AID is a verb.)
6. Headlines often use infinitives to refer to the future.
E.g.
- Pm to visit Australia
- Hospitals to take fewer patients
For is also used to refer to future movements or plans.
Troops for Glassgow?(=Are soldiers going to be
sent to Glasgow?)
7. Auxiliary verbs are usually dropped from passive
structrures, leaving past participles
E.g.
- Murder hunt: man held (=…a man is being held
by police)
- Six killed in explosion (=Six people have been
killed…)
Note that forms like held, attacked are usually
past participles with passive meanings, not past tenses (which are rare in
newspaper headlines).
Compare:
- aid row: president attacked (=…the president has
been attacked.)
aid row: president
attacks critics (=… the president has attacked her critics.)
- boy found safe (= The missing boy has been
found safe)
boy finds
safe (= A boy has found a safe)
8. A colon (:) is often used to separate the subject of
the headline from what is said about it.
E.g.
Strikes: PM to act
Motorway crash: death toll rises
9. Quotation marks (‘…’) are used to show that words were
said by someboy else, and that the newspaper does not necessarily claim that
they are true.
E.g. Crash driver ‘had been drinking’
A question mark (?) is often used when something is not
certain.
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