Questions tagged [headline-english]
Questions about the compressed style of English commonly employed in newspaper headlines.
1
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0answers
93 views
ISIS Suicide Blasts Kill More Than 220 Dead In Southern Syria
Going through this news article on NDTV website, I saw the headline 'ISIS Suicide Blasts Kill More Than 220 Dead In Southern Syria'. Is this usage correct? Or should it be 'ISIS Suicide Blasts Kill ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
“Debussy, but EPIC for the new Godzilla trailer”
I have read an short news article that had the following headline:
Debussy, but EPIC for the new Godzilla trailer
The article text for this was as followed:
Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters ...
0
votes
0answers
67 views
Why can one leave out the article in “Please contact administrator”? [duplicate]
As a native American English speaker, I wrote the following error message for our application: "There was an error. Please contact administrator."
A native German speaking colleague asked me why I ...
0
votes
0answers
37 views
What does the headline sentence “Top Judges Meet Today On Appointment Rejected By Government” convey? Is there a better way to rephrase this?
A leading Indian news website has this headline today - "Top Judges Meet Today On Appointment Rejected By Government"
How would a reader, who lacks context, interpret this?
The top judges are going ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
No Turkish troops for Iraq [closed]
Here is a sentence from a newspaper:
No Turkish troops for Iraq|at Defence talk.
What does it mean that Turkish have no troops to send Iraq?
7
votes
2answers
1k views
What does it mean to “cut aid”?
I read in a newspaper the following heading:
“Trump’s Threat To Cut Aid to Countries” = The US reduces its help…
Then I found in a dictionary: “Cuts aid rebels.” = The reduction is helping the ...
3
votes
2answers
92 views
When did we start kicking cans down the road ? And when did we lose the can?
I noticed this headline after talks on Brexit were stalled by whatever they were stalled by.
Stalled talks kick the border issue down the road
Ngram A // Ngram B
I tried Ngramming but, ...
0
votes
1answer
62 views
Is the sentence “Neil Young to open up entire online music archive for free”, correct? [closed]
I saw this headline today, "Neil Young to open up entire online music archive for free".
Is that sentence correct, and if so, could it have multiple meanings?
In this instance it's clear to me what ...
1
vote
1answer
249 views
Strange Omission of “to be” in The Onion Headlines
So I've noticed a pattern lately on the TheOnion.com of omitting 'is' from their headlines. I get shortening headlines but I can't say this pattern is familiar to me. It strikes me as obtuse and ...
1
vote
1answer
104 views
Missing punctuation and the tense usage
I have written the following sentence as a headline for an invitation email.
ABC Ltd. welcomes you to Exhibition Dubai 2017 held at the Dubai World
Trade Center from June 7 to June 9, 2017.
Am I ...
1
vote
0answers
43 views
Two past verb(or past participles) arranged side by side in news headline
De Lima ordered arrested by RTC link
From this answer
I somewhat understand of Headlinese. However, I still don't understand ordered. I mean, I can understand was is omitted in following sentence.
...
0
votes
1answer
219 views
Why use active voice in “Five killed as aircraft hits shopping centre”? [duplicate]
I think the five people were killed in the aircraft from this news. The headline is:
Melbourne plane crash: Five killed as aircraft hits shopping centre
Why use active voice rather than passive ...
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Why in error messages verb 'be' is not used? [duplicate]
In the computer world error messages are written without verb 'be'. For example,
file not found,
file not exist,
command not found,
no such file or directory
and so on.
So why verb 'be'...
-2
votes
1answer
76 views
“Fidel Castro Dead” - Is this Slang or common English Usage? [closed]
English is not my mother tongue, so I'm not sure if the title of an article I've read is legit: "Fidel Castro Dead". Shouldn't it be "Fidel Castro is dead"?
1
vote
1answer
78 views
Is there a need to use an article in a headline? [closed]
Which should I use?
Top restaurants within 5 minute walk
Top restaurants within a 5 minute walk
For broader context, this is to be used as a section heading in an app, and so adding an article ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
CV/Résumé - Article Drop [closed]
I think my question is rather a stylistic one, but it really bugs me.
From a grammatical standpoint, "the" should always precede ordinal numbers. However, articles are usually omitted in headlines. ...
1
vote
1answer
76 views
Agency recommended that she 'not face' charges? [duplicate]
An excerpt from the sub-headline of a recent article in the WSJ:
FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday explained why his agency
recommended that Hillary Clinton not face criminal charges for her
...
1
vote
1answer
152 views
Should I put articles in the headlines of a CV? [closed]
For example, here:
My contribution: Front-end development.
(The) Project: Our team realized the most popular news resource for a big city.
16
votes
3answers
2k views
Why not an s on “speed” in “Ukraine speed to test new-look Germany defence”
This url links to an Australian article (sourced from Reuters) about a football team. The article has the following title:
Ukraine speed to test new-look Germany defence
I understand that the word ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Proper use of the verb 'eclipse'
I need help settling a debate regarding the correct usage of the verb eclipse.
The headline in question is (slightly paraphrased):
Runner Completes 2mi Run; Eclipses 12m Result
Now, let's assume ...
1
vote
4answers
537 views
What is wrong with this headline?
"Fascist X" said a lawyer and sent to jail for insulting him.
There has been some discussion about this headline's structure. Since I intended to put the quoted speech in front of the sentence, I ...
1
vote
1answer
310 views
No inversion in questions in headlines and titles
Why do many titles and headlines read:
"Why Europe should become...", NOT "Why should Europe become...";
"How an inventor lost...", NOT "How did an inventor lose...";
"How the photocopier changed...", ...
1
vote
1answer
3k views
Infinitive in news headlines
I'm a little bit confused with understanding news titles. I recently started to read news in English willing to improve my language skills, but there is one thing that I totally can't understand (and ...
2
votes
3answers
814 views
Is “will open 1st quarter 2015” grammatically correct? [closed]
A lot of signs in the Hong Kong MTR writes:
xxx Station will open 1st quarter of 2015
Is this actually grammatically correct?
1
vote
4answers
142 views
Using “ex” on a genitive
I’ve constructed this headline:
“Opera Mini to become the default browser on Microsoft’s (ex Nokia’s) feature phones”
So, the phones in question used to be produced by Nokia, but Microsoft has ...
0
votes
2answers
78 views
What does “as poll nears” mean? [closed]
I just read The Jakarta Post
I've got this:
"Prabowo changes style in campaign as poll nears"
what is the meaning of 'as poll nears', I've got some guesswork and I am not really sure about it, ...
1
vote
1answer
481 views
Why did The New York Times use the present simple to describe a past event? [duplicate]
Statement is as follows:
Obama makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
Is this a simple present tense? If yes then please explain
As per the definition of simple present tense, this statement ...
0
votes
2answers
98 views
Question about headline “Inmate Dies Anyway”
I came across this headline: "Oklahoma Stops Botched Execution. Inmate Dies Anyway." (link)
I was truly disturbed by the use of "anyway". To me, it implies a nonchalant attitude about something that ...
6
votes
5answers
2k views
News article: “Man sentenced for murdering his 10th wife”. What does this mean?
Today I saw this headline for a news article online:
Man sentenced for murdering his 10th wife
I can't tell if a sentence of this nature means that the man has murdered 10 people (all of which ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Is it ok to omit a possessive apostrophe before a capitalized appellation (President, country name, VP, PM)?
In a recent Financial Times article (Yemen PM Escapes Assissnation), the apostrophe necessary to show possession was left out. I've seen colleagues do it as well. Isn't it supposed to be "Yemen's PM ...
3
votes
5answers
2k views
Struggling to understand headlines that use ellipsis
I have trouble understanding headlines because they abuse ellipsis. Two examples:
"Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan To Awkwardly Hug, High Five For Next Three Months"
"Scores Dead as Fire Sweeps Through ...
2
votes
2answers
4k views
Is there a specific term for when you combine two unrelated terms in a headline in order to grab attention? [closed]
Is there a specific term for when you combine two unrelated terms in a headline in order to grab attention?
For example:
Bolivian Kick Boxer Meets US Marine
Or:
Kickboxer Meets a Marine (1)
...
2
votes
1answer
4k views
Capital letters in headlines [closed]
I’m not a native English speaker. I’ve noticed that in titles or headlines, many words often start with a capital letter while others are still lowercase. As an example, the title of my question ...
3
votes
3answers
4k views
Is “five-yearly” an acceptable usage of an adverb of manner in British English?
Today's BBC News web page has this headline:
New era of five-yearly doctor checks starts
There's a word that means "five-yearly": quinquennial. It's probably too long for headline writers and too ...
7
votes
1answer
829 views
What does “To” mean in a newspaper headline?
What does to mean in a newspaper headline, for example:
Airline XY to cut cost of pilots' wages
Is it a shorter form of "Is going to" or "Is planning to"?
7
votes
5answers
440 views
“Gadhafi forces retreat” - how do you understand that?
Our local newspaper had the headline today "Gadhafi forces retreat" and I read it with "retreat" as the verb instead of "forces" as the verb. I know it is a poorly written headline, but which way is ...
30
votes
4answers
9k views
Why do newspaper headlines use strange syntax rules?
Newspaper/news article headlines usually have different syntax rules, for example
No copula. North Korea trip 'successful'
Past events written in present. Qantas cancels flight out of frozen Heathrow
...
