by Arief Firdaus

Enriching Vocabulary through

Newspaper Headlines• Some aspects of Grammar• Some aspects of Vocabulary • Exercises

Grammar (1)

Newspaper headlines often follow rather different grammatical rules from other kinds of writing.

1. Headlines are not always complete sentences.e.g. More Earthquakes Deaths

2. Headlines often contain strings of three, four, or more nouns.e.g. Furniture Factory Pay Cut Riot

3. Articles and the verb to be are often left out.e.g. Shakespeare Play Immoral, Says Headmaster

4. Newspaper headlines have a special tense-system. It is unusual to find complex forms like is coming or has produced; generally the simple present form (comes, produces) is used, whether the headline is about something that has happened, something that is happening, or something that happens repeatedly.

e.g. Britain Sends Food to Tsunami Victims Students Fight for Course Changes Fat Babies Cry Less, Says Doctor

5. Sometimes the present progressive tense is used (usually to describe something that is changing or developing), but the auxiliary verb (is, are) is usually left out.

e.g. World Heading for Energy Crisis Bekasi Getting Warmer, Say Researchers

6. To refer to the future, headlines often use the infinitive. e.g. Vice President to Visit Australia President to Announce Cabinet Changes on Tuesday

7. Passive sentences are constructed with no auxiliary verb, just the past participle. e.g. Man Held by the Police in Murder Hunt Nuns Killed in Explosion

8. A colon ( : ) is often used to separate the main point of a headline from a comment about it. e.g. Motorway Crash: Death Toll Rises

9. Quotation Marks (‘…’) are used to show that somebody else said words, and that the newspaper does not necessarily claim that they are true.

e.g. Crash Driver ‘Had Been Drinking’

10. A question mark (?) is often used when something is not certain. e.g. KPU Case Over by August?

Grammar (2)

1. Probosutedjo _______________BUSINESS tycoon Probosutedjo, who is also the half-brother of the country’s former authoritarian president Soeharto, was sent to the Cipinang penitentiary on Wednesday to serve a four year jail term for embezzling state money, in what is seen as part of the current government’s drive to fight rampant corruption.2. Soldiers ________________________A GROUP of army soldiers are facing dismissal for attacking and looting houses in three remote South Sulawesi hamlets, in a blow to the military’s efforts to restore its tarnished image.3. Susilo _____________ to up fuel pricesPRESSURE is mounting for president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take the politically difficult step of raising fuel prices as early as November as oil prices surge to new record levels with no signs of abating in the near future.4. Indonesia _____________ to fed Cup’s World GroupINDONESIA wrapped up a 4-1 victory in a playoff on Sunday to ensure a place in the 16-nation World Group of the Fed Cup women’s team tennis championship.5. Haze endures ____________AFTER a clear afternoon, a thin haze again began to cover Pekanbaru, Riau on Sunday despite rain in several parts of the city. Haze cleared in Jambi in southern Sumatra but parts of Pontianak, West Kalimantan were still shrouded in a thick smog.

1. Probosutedjo put behind barsBUSINESS tycoon Probosutedjo, who is also the half-brother of the country’s former authoritarian president Soeharto, was sent to the Cipinang penitentiary on Wednesday to serve a four year jail term for embezzling state money, in what is seen as part of the current government’s drive to fight rampant corruption.2. Soldiers attack and loot hamletsA GROUP of army soldiers are facing dismissal for attacking and looting houses in three remote South Sulawesi hamlets, in a blow to the military’s efforts to restore its tarnished image.3. Susilo pressured to up fuel pricesPRESSURE is mounting for president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take the politically difficult step of raising fuel prices as early as November as oil prices surge to new record levels with no signs of abating in the near future.4. Indonesia advances to fed Cup’s World GroupINDONESIA wrapped up a 4-1 victory in a playoff on Sunday to ensure a place in the 16-nation World Group of the Fed Cup women’s team tennis championship.5. Haze endures despite rainfallAFTER a clear afternoon, a thin haze again began to cover Pekanbaru, Riau on Sunday despite rain in several parts of the city. Haze cleared in Jambi in southern Sumatra but parts of Pontianak, West Kalimantan were still shrouded in a thick smog.