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In today’s New York Times (April. 30th) I saw the following line under the caption of “Royal Wedding”:

“Prince William and Kate Middleton Marry: Prince William and Kate Middleton were married on Friday at a moment that will reshape Britain’s monarchy.”

In the caption, “marry” is being used as intransitive verb, while the same word is used as the transitive verb right after that. Though I think it is saying the same thing, I wonder why it should be expressed in different way. Is it because the latter means their marriage was publicly authorized by the Anglican Archbishop? Can somebody clarify the reason for me?

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    Probably because it's a headline. I wouldn't even be surprised to see "Prince William, Kate Middleton Marry". See What's with syntax in newspaper headlines? – RegDwigнt♦ Apr 29 '11 at 23:46
  • @RegDwight. When you say you wouldn't even be surprised to see William and Kate marry" it sounds like "be married" is more often usedto me. May I ask Which is used more or most often used among "married,""be married,""get married"? – Yoichi Oishi♦ Apr 30 '11 at 2:22
  • I don't have a scientific answer to that, Yoichi-san. My gut feeling tells me that I hear "be married" and "get married" more often than simply "marry", but I might be wrong. Plus, again, in headlines it's probably the exact opposite, because they are traditionally kept very short. Many news are supplied by news agencies who target all media, and their headlines often just get copied verbatim — even by online media, to whom space is less of a concern than to print media. – RegDwigнt♦ Apr 30 '11 at 10:59
  • @RegDwight. Thanks. I read the Q & A - “What’s with syntax in ...?” Sure. ‘married’ is shorter than ‘were married’ for use in the headline. Besides if the writer repeated ‘married’ or ‘were married’ whichever, twice in tandem in adjacent phrases, it may look awkward. But if I were a journalist, I would choose other wording to avoid redundancy. Perhaps I’m nitpicking. – Yoichi Oishi♦ Apr 30 '11 at 22:02
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You can say that a man and a woman marry each other or that they are married [by the preacher/whoever happens to be marrying them].

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    As in the riddle: "Who has married many a wife, yet remained single all his life?" – Henry Apr 30 '11 at 1:10
  • @Henry.Ican't think up the answer to the riddle. What's the answer? – Yoichi Oishi♦ Apr 30 '11 at 2:25
  • @Yoichi: A minister/pastor/someone else who might marry couples. – compman Apr 30 '11 at 3:18

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