Grammatical parameters of newspaper English

The following grammatical peculiarities of newspaper English may be regarded as grammatical parameters of newspaper style:

a) Occasional disregard for the sequence of tenses rule and rules for reporting speech. These tendencies in newspaper writing modify the well-established grammatical norms. Nevertheless, what is ordinarily looked upon as a gross violation of grammar rules in any other kind of writing is becoming increasingly common as a functional peculiarity of newspaper style, e.g.: "It was announced in Cairo yesterday that elections will be held..." (The Daily Telegraph); "TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Netherlands assets for net proceeds of $447-million, all but completing its divestment program." (The Globe); "After offering "the hearty congratulations of myself and the federation / represent" and expressing his wish for "every success in the future," Mr. Holt concludes..." (Daily Worker).

b) Attributive noun groups are another powerful means of effecting brevity in news items, e.g., 'heart swap patient' (The Times), the national income and expenditure figures' (The Times), 'Labour backbench decision' (The Daily Telegraph). 'Mr. Wilson's HMS Fearless package deal' (The Daily Telegraph), 'leap into space age' (The Globe).

c) Verbal (infinitive, participial, gerundial) constructions and verbal noun constructions, e.g.: "Mr. Nobusuke Kishi, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has sought to set an example to the faction ridden Governing Liberal Democratic Party by announcing the disbanding of his own faction numbering Al of the total of 295 conservative members of the Lower house of the Diet." (The Times).

d) Syntactical (predicative) complexes, especially the nominative with the infinitive (complex subject). These constructions are largely used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported, e.g.: "The condition of Lord Samuel, aged 92, was said last night to be a little better." (The Guardian); "A Petrol bomb is believed to have been exploded against the grave of Cecil Rhodes." (The Times)

e) Complex syntactical structure. As reporters are obliged to be brief, they naturally try to cram all the facts" into the space allotted. This tendency predetermines the peculiar composition of newspaper matter and the structure of sentences (syntactical structure).

Newspaper materials are characterized by complex syntactical structure: "There are indications that BOAC may withdraw threats of all-out dismissals for pilots who restrict flying hours, a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots' association said yesterday." (The Times); "Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster-General (Kingston-upon-Thames), said he had been asked what was meant by the statement in the Speech that the position of war pensioners and those receiving national insurance benefits would be kept under close review." (The Times)

f) Specific word order. Unconventional sentence patterns. Newspaper tradition, coupled with the rigid rules of sentence structure in English, has greatly affected the word order of newspaper items. The word order in one sentence news paragraphs and in what are called leads (the initial sentences in longer news items) is more or less fixed. Journalistic practice has developed what is called the "five-w-and-h-pattern rule" (who-what why-how-where-when) and for a long time strictly adhere to it. In terms of grammar this fixed sentence structure may be expressed in the following manner: Subject — Predicate (object) — Adverbial modifier of reason (manner) — Adverbial modifier of place — Adverbial modifier of time, e.g.: "The US Consul-General, Mr. Maxwell McCullough, snooped incognito round the anti-Polaris art exhibition "Count Down" in the McLellan Galleries here this morning". (The Daily Telegraph)

It is now obvious that the newspaper has developed new sentence patterns not typical of other styles. This observation refers, firstly, to the position of the adverbial modifier of definite time. Compare another pattern typical of brief news sentence structure: "Derec Heath, 43, yesterday left Falmouth for the third time in his; attempt to cross the Atlantic in a 12ft dinghy" (The Times); "Brighton council yesterday approved а & 22,500 scheme to have parking meters operating in the centre of the town by March". (The Times)

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