Newspaper Style Newspaper style was the last

Newspaper Style

Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper writing dates from the 17 th century. At the close of the 16 th century short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such publication either presented news from only one source or dealt with one specific subject.

Ø Note the titles of some of the earliest news pamph lets: "News from Spain and Holland" (1593). Ø The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 23, 1622. It lasted for some twenty years till in 1641 it ceased publication. Ø The first English daily newspaper—the Daily Courant— was brought out on March 11, 1702. The paper carried news, largely foreign, and no comment.

Thus the early English newspa per was principally a vehicle of information. Commentary as a regular feature found its way into the newspapers later. But as far back as the middle of the 18 th century the British newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying on its pages news, both foreign and domestic, advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments.

English newspaper style may be defined as a system of inter related lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is per ceivedby the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.

Newspaper Genres 1. Headlines 2. Brief news items and communiques; 3. Advertisements and announcements; 4. The Editorial As a means of mass communication it serves: a) to inform, provide information without comment or appeal; b) to deliver “hot news”; c) to influence public opinion.

HEADLINE Headline is the most concise form of giving information, it also carries appraisal: the subject matter (characteristic words), emotionally colored words, elements of emotive syntax. E. g. : Royal Family bows to public pressure to show its grief.

Brief News Items v The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. v It states facts without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most part implicit and as a rule unemotional. v News items are essentially matter of fact, and stereotyped forms of expression prevail.

Advertisements and announcements v In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are arranged according to subject matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name.

The Editorial ü The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. ü Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. ü Their purpose is to give the editor's opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader that it is the correct one. ü Like any evaluative writing, editorials appeal not only to the reader's mind but to his feelings as well.

Lexical Features: a) Special political and economic terms (e. g. apartheid, by election, per capita production). b) Non term political vocabulary (e. g. public, people, progressive, nation wide unity). c) Newspaper clichés, i. e. , stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases familiar to the reader (e. g. vital issue, well informed sources, overwhelming majority, amid stormy applause).

d) Clichés more than anything else reflect the traditional manner of expression in newspaper writing. They are commonly looked upon as a defect of style (e. g. captains of industry, pillars of society). But nevertheless, clichés are indispensable (необхідні) in newspaper style: they prompt the necessary associations and prevent ambiguity (двозначність) and misunderstanding. e) Abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines abound in abbreviations of various kinds as it helps to save space and time.

Some abbreviations are read as individual letters: WHO (read as W-H-O) World Health Organization BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) UN (United Nations) PM (Prime Minister) MP (Member of Parliament)

Some abbreviations are read as words, they are called acronyms. • NATO /'neitou/ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation • OPEC /'oupek/ Organisation of Petroleum Exploring Countries • AIDS /eidz/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome • Abbreviations are used in titles (Mr, Ms, Mrs, Dr, etc. )

f) Neologisms. The newspaper is very quick to react to any: • new development in the life of society and technology. Hence, neologisms • make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily. So, not long ago such words as glasnost used to cover almost each and every inch of printed matter materials. But many neologisms, the same as slang words, tend to become dated very fast.

Syntactical Features: q Mostly declarative sentences, sometimes interrogatives and rhetorical questions, rarely imperatives; q Sentence condensers and semi clausal structures rather than dependent clauses; q Coordinating sentences rather than subordinate clauses;

q Parentheses separated by dashes; q Mostly Past Tense, sometimes Present Tense; q No tense shift in reported speech; q Shorter sentences for the sake of easy reading; q Passive constructions for the sake of objectivity; q Complex pre modification and post modification; q Inventive attributes (hoped for, faster arriving).

Grammar features Ø Verbal phrases: FRANCO PLANS TRIAL Ø The verb «be» is often omitted: 255 RELEASED Ø Past events are denoted with present tense verbs: DIANA FINDS DEATH IN PARIS Ø Future actions may be expressed with infinitives: PHONE REPAIRERS TO STRIKE

Word order: § Mostly neu tral; § Inversion w ith the verbs: t o declare, to say, to expl ain, to laugh; § The quo tation prece des the identification of the source; § Main clause precedes the d ependent clause.

Questions: 1. Give the definition of the English Newspaper Style. 2. What are the basic genres of the style? 3. What are its main lexical peculiarities? 4. Name the stylistic peculiarities. 5. What grammar features of this style do you remember? 5. What are the functions of this style?