reading and understanding newspaper

Newspaper English

Understanding English newspaper articles either as a lead information or reporting it as an open source is very important for any intelligent officers because it exposes you to different important topics. Headlines in English newspaper use different grammar rules to everyday English. This is because they are designed to be short and to attract attention. The following rules are often used to achieve this:

1. Use present simple tense for past events

The present tense is quick and current and helps emphasize the action happening, rather than its completion. If we want to demonstrate the result of an action, or that something was completed, we can use perfect tenses, while for changing events, the present continuous may be used. However, these tenses are often shown by using participles alone.

Examples:

a. Kim promised to denuke.           Kim promises to denuke.

b. Putin invited G7 to meet in Moscow.           Putin invites G7 to meet in Moscow.

2. Leave out auxiliary verbs

With perfect, progressive/continuous and passive structures, auxiliary verbs are not necessary. This makes some headlines appear to be in the past tense when actually the headlines use past participles, not the past simple.

Examples:

a. An elephant was killed for ivory in East Aceh.       Elephant killed for ivory in East Aceh.

b. Thailand is becoming “garbage bin of the world.”       Thailand becoming “garbage bin of the world.”

3. Use infinitives for future events

Using the infinitive, a future time is not always necessary to demonstrate the future tense in headlines.

Examples:

a. West Java is going to get single industrial area.       West Java to get single industrial area.

b. The govt will snoop on students’ social media accounts.     The govt to snoop on students’ social media accounts.

4. Leave out articles (a, an, the)

Examples:

a. Local companies will win big from the Asian Games merchandise sales.        Local companies to win big from Asian Games merchandise sales.

b. Duterte told a UN expert to go to hell.         Duterte tells UN expert to go to hell.

5. Leave out “to be”

Examples:

a. National economy is still in good condition.       National economy still in good condition.

b. Inflation is under control.         Inflation  under control.

6. Leave out “to say”

Reported speech is usually represented by a colon or a hyphen with the subject introduced with ‘on …’. This includes leaving out other verbs such as comment, tell, argue, announce or shout unless the act of speaking needs emphasizing, for instance to demonstrate a promise or official policy.

Examples:

a. Mahatir said, “Growing countries need different protections.”        Mahatir: “Growing countries need different protections.”

b. European Union will cut ties with Cambodia,” said Rainsy.         European Union to cut ties with Cambodia”: Rainsy.

7. Replace conjunctions with punctuations

As with reporting speech, commas, colons, semi-colons, hyphens and so on can replace all conjunctions, either coordinate conjunctions or subordinate conjunctions. Commas may also be used to join nouns (more common in American English).

Examples:

a. Trump and Kim arrived in Singapore for Summit.       Trump, Kim arrive in S’pore for Summit.

b. Indonesia offered jet fighters as assistance to fight terrorism.         Indonesia offers jet fighters, assistance to fight terrorism.

8. Use figures for numbers

Examples:

a. Eight women competed in court justice race.         8 women compete in court justice race.

b. Fuego volcano eruption killed twenty five people and injured hundreds.         Fuego volcano eruption kills 25, injures hundreds.

As you can see, the grammar rules for newspaper headlines can lead to ambiguous headlines as many words are implied and not written. You may also see different vocabulary in headlines with less common, but concise, verbs, such as bid, vow and spark. There are many additional style issues that certain newspaper use, for instance the capitalization of every word or joining conjunctions with commas instead of conjunctions. The 8 rules above are the most common and consistent for headline grammar, however.