News Item is a factual text which informs the readers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.
Social function of news item is to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.
Generic structure:
· Newsworthy Event(s): recounts the events in summary form.
· Background Event(s): elaborate what happened, to WHOM, in WHAT circumstances.
· Sources: comments by participants in, witnesses to, and expert on the event.
Significant Grammar Features:
· Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline.
· Generally using Simple Past Tense.
· Use of Material Processes to retell the event.
· Using Action Verbs, (e.g.: were, run, go, kill, hit, attack, curb, etc).
· Using Saying Verbs, (e.g.: said, added, claimed, etc).
· Focus on Circumstances.
· Use of projecting Verbal Processes in Sources stages.
§ Did you know?
Headlines in newspapers are printed in large letters to catch the reader’s eye. They use as few words as possible and are called ‘Phrase Headlines’. Grammar words like articles (a, an, the) and auxiliary verbs (is, are, was, were, may, must, can, etc.) are often left out.
Examples:
· Torrential Rain in Most Areas.
· Women Barred from Jobs.
· Price Curbs Boost Exports.
· Riweards for Tracing Suspects.
Some headlines use the present tense although the event happened days before. Why? Beceuse the writer wants to give the subject a sense of freshness and imfortance, making of more interesting to read.
| For passive sentences, use past participle. | Agreement is signed today. Headline: Agreement signedtoday. |
| For future event, use to-infinitive. | The President will open the ASEAN summit. Headline: President to openASEAN summit. |
| For an event which is taking place now, use present participle. | English Teachers are having a TEFLIN seminar. Headline: English teachershaving TEFLIN seminar. |
| For a sentence using ‘is, are’, omit them. | People are free to choose their leader. Headline: People free to choose leader. |
There are some rules that can help to make newspaper headlines more comprehensible.
- The passive voice is used without the appropriate form of “be”.
Example: Town ‘Contaminated’
Complete Sentence: Town is contaminated.
- It is unusual to find complex forms, generally the simple present form is used
Example: Fire Destroys over 2,511 acres of Forest in 2003-2004
Complete Sentence: Fire has destroyed over 2,511 acres of forest in 2003-2004.
- The present progressive tense is used, usually to describe something that is changing or developing, but the auxiliary verb is usually left out.
Example: World Heading for Energy Crisis
Complete Sentence: The world is heading for an energy crisis.
- To refer to the future, headlines often use the infinitive.
Example: Queen to Visit Samoa.
Complete Sentence: The Queen is going to visit Samoa.
- Headlines are not always complete sentences.
Example: More earthquakes in Japan.
Complete Sentence: More earthquakes happened in Japan.
The example of news item :
Man jailed for striking RI maid
Newsworthy Event:
SINGAPORE: A suvervisor was jailed for two month for refeatedly striking his Indonesia maid on the head and back with a television remote control, news reports said on Thursday.
Background Events:
Muhamad Shafiq Woon Abdulah admitted in a Singapore court he physically abused the woman on several occasion between June and October 2002, The Strait Times said.
The magistrate’s court hear that Shafiq, 31, began striking Winarti, 22 about a month after she started working for him.
He hit her on the heat with the TV set’s remote control because he was unhappy with her work. On the occasion, he punched her on the back after accusing her of daydreaming.
Sources:
S.S. Dhillion, Shafiq’s lawyer said his client lost his ‘better senses’ when he saw his daugther’s face covered as she lay in bed.
He said his client thought the maid had put the child in danger. -DPA
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