Structure Features and Rhetorical Devices of English Newspaper Headlines Abstract: With the development of mass media， newspaper is one of the major media for us to get information all over the Nowadays English newspaper is very popular and read all over C However， many people still have difficulty in understanding English newspaper headlines even for some English This is because English newspaper headlines have their own special features， culture backgrounds and different from the daily English we used in many This paper will then focus on the lexical， structure features and rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines， which can help us to have a better understanding when we are reading Key words: Newspaper headline， Lexical features， Structure features， Rhetorical 摘要：随着传媒的发展，报纸逐渐成为我们获取世界各地的信息主要媒介。现在，英文报纸的阅读更是非常流行。然而，许多人仍是很难理解英文报纸的标题，即使是英语专业的学生。这是因为英语报纸的标题有着它们自己独有的特点，文化背景和日常英语与我们在很多方面的不同。本文将重点放在词汇，结构特点和修辞在英语报纸中的特点，当我们在读报纸，它可以帮助我们有更好的理解。 关键词：报纸的标题，词汇特征，结构特点，修辞。 Introduction Every time we pick up a newspaper， what come into our sight will be lots of news A headline has become an indispensable part of The editor means to attract the reader’s attention through As a result， news paper headlines are usually specially designed to be short， concise， and informative to convey different kinds of We may be confused by the headlines like “Cater’s War on Waste”， “UFO Sighted”， “Smugglers Get Jail and Fines”， “Weekly Mag for Stamp Lovers to Be Launched”， Yet without some knowledge of news headline features， it is not easy for us to read English This paper has summarized the study of newspaper development in recent years and presents the lexical features， structure features and rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines in Lexical Features of English Newspaper Headlines Lexical features of English newspaper headlines can mainly include four They are exemplified as [1] Abbreviation Abbreviation， which is used in a large quantity in English newspaper， means “A shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form” Generally speaking there are 3 kinds of Abbreviations used in the ① Abbreviation for organizations Examples: UNESCO = Uinted Nations Educational， Scientific and Culture Organization PLO = Palestine Liberation Organization IOC = International Olympic Committee NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration APEC = Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference FIFA = Federation Internationale de Football Association ② Abbreviation for profession and career Examples: MP = member of parliament PM = prime minister GM = general manager PA = personal assistant ③ Abbreviation for our familiar things Examples: UFO = Unidentified Flying Object DJI = Dow-Jones Index AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome GMT = Greenwich Mean Times Laser = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation Radar = Radio Detection and Ranging Sonar = Sound Navigation Ranging TOEFL = Test of English as A Foreign Language IELTS = International English Language Testing System [2] Shortening Shortening of different words in newspaper aims to spare more space or to cut down the length of the Examples: grad – graduate hosp – hospital cig – cigarette Cell – cellular Sec – second Reps – representatives Info – information Int’l – international Deli– delicatessen Hi-fi – high fidelity Hi-tech – high technology 3-D – three dimensional G-7 – Group of seven A-bomb – atom bomb V-day – victory day [3] Compound Compound words in English newspaper are usually formed by two or over two By compounding， we can make complicated structure simpler， what’s more， save Examples: ① “Plan to aid school dropouts extended” ( China Daily， F1998 ) Here “school dropouts” refers to “the student who drops out of school” ② “Li stresses corruption fight” (China Daily， F1998) Here “corruption fight” refers to “fight against corruption” [4] Informal and Small Words Newspaper headlines are likely to use informal and small words because small words have more meanings than big words and can be used in many In news English these words are refered to as “synonyms of all work” Examples: aim——purpose， design， object intention， meet——assembly， convention， congregation， exam，etc， pact——compact， contract，agreement，convention deal——negotiationm，transaction，bargain， Structure Features of English Newspaper Headlines Structure features of English newspaper headlines can be divided into two They are as follows: [1] Omission Omission is one of the major features of English newspaper Generally speaking， omission can be classified 4 ① Omission of articles Examples: Italian Ex-mayor Murdered ( = A Italian Ex-mayor Was Murdered ) Tenth of British Mackerel Catch Ground into Feed (= A Tenth of the British markerel Catch Ground into Feed ) ② Omission of conjunction and pronoun Examples: USA， Vietnam Resume Talks ( = USA and Vietnam Resume Talks ) Have Dollars， Will Sell ( = If You Have Dollars， Will Sell ) ③ Omission of “be ” and auxiliary verbs Examples: Three Dead after Inhaling over Gas ( = Three Are Dead after Inhaling over Gas ) Married Women to Get Care Allowance ( = Married Women Are to Get Care Allowance ) PNC’s world views praised ( = PNC’s world views were praised ) ④ Omission of verbs Examples: Ballots， Not Bullets ( = Algerians Want Ballots， Not Bullets ) Pom peii Reported Seriously Damaged ( = Pom peii Reported to Have Benn Seriously Damage) [2] Use Noun to Replace Adjective， Phrase， and Verb Nouns are frequently used in newspaper Headlines to replace different words to form various So nouns are the most animated words in news Examples: Yugoslav pianist stirring music world ( “music world” = “musical world” ) Corruption Reports Against Police Rise ( “corruption reports” = “reports on corruption complaints ”) Female axe murderer executed ( “female axe murdered” = “ a female murderer who killed with an axe ” ) Export growth to beat crisis ( “growth” is used to replace “grow” ) Rhetorical Devices Of English Newspaper Headlines Rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines mainly have six They are as [1] Imitation Examples: The Son Also Rises To Save or Not to Save The Road That Must be Taken Do as Maoris Do The Great Mall of China Candidate in the Wind iPod， therefore， i am [2] Metaphor Examples: A Dove Taking Wing Whitewater May Drown Democrats Trouble Brewing [3] Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of initial identical consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables， stressed Examples: Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility Kill or Cure? Carrots and Clubs? Solitary Soldier Tiger Tied Virtual Villains [4] Rhyme Rhyme is the repetition of an identical stressed vowel sound， followed by identical consonant sound but preceded by different consonants Examples: Masculine rhyme: Foe/toe meet/fleet make/brake Feminine rhyme: Revival/arrival mountain/fountain Eye rhyme: Brain Gain/Drain Dream Team Wheels and Deals Bubble， Bubble， Toil and Trouble It’s More Than a War [5] Pun Pun is an expression that achieves emphasis or humor by contriving an ambiguity， two distinct meanings suggested either by the same word or by two similar sounding Examples: Why is the river so rich? It has two Why are monkeys as talkative as women? Each monkey has a tail(tale) Why is that female movie star so cool? She has many Which can run faster， heat or cold? Heat， because everyone can catch What is the worst weather for mice? When it rains cats and Why is the bride always unlucky on her wedding day? Because she can never marry the best What is mind? It doesn’t What is the matter? Never [6] Idiom Examples: Rome is not built in a Third time The seven-year Conclusion To sum up， English newspaper headlines can use different kinds skills of lexical features， structure features and rhetorical devices to create many Besides the features mentioned above， there many other features in English newspaper headlines for us to Understanding the headlines of the news is a gateway to understand the whole news， so news headlines is an area worthwhile for us to go deep
