C. Playing with words

Harmony seldom makes a headline.

Silas Ben

1)Study the following examples of newspaper headline language.

A. Features of headline language

Here are some typical examples of headlines from tabloid newspapers with comments on their use or language

EXPERT REVEALS NEW MOBILE DANGERS

· Articles, prepositions and auxiliary verbs are often omitted from headlines.

· This use of the present simple instead of the past tense makes the story sound more immediate.

· The use of language is often ambiguous. It is not entirely clear, for example, what mobile refers to here. It is actually about the dangers of mobile phone use but it could have referred to dangers that can move in some way. Readers have to look at the story in order to find out.

· Words with dramatic associations such as danger are often used.

TV STAR TRAGIC TARGET FOR MYSTERY GUNMAN

This story is about how a well-known television actor was shot by an unknown killer.

· Tabloid newspapers like to use references to royalty or popular figures like film or pop stars or sports personalities in order to attract readers' attention.

· Alliteration such as TV Star Tragic Target is often used to attract the eye in headlines and to make them sound more memorable.

· Newspapers sometimes use 'shorthand' words such as 'gunman' in order to express an idea or image as briefly and as vividly as possible.

B. Violent words

Violent and militaristic words are often used in newspaper headlines, especially in tabloid newspapers, in order to make stories seem more dramatic.

EU acts to crush terror of the thugs

Palace besieged by journalists

Crackdown on soccer louts

Typhoon rips through town

C. Playing with words

Many newspaper headlines in English attract readers' attention by playing on words in an entertaining way. For example, a story about the theft of traffic signs erected to help tourists coming to see a solar eclipse in the area was headlined Dark deeds. In this collocation dark usually carries the meaning of wicked, but the headline is cleverly playing with the word dark because at the time of an eclipse the sky goes dark.

Another example is the use of the headline Ruffled feathers to describe an incident where a wife was angry with her husband, a wildlife expert, for allowing a Russian steppe eagle to sleep in their bedroom. We use the idiom to smooth someone's ruffled feathers, meaning to pacify someone after an argument. It is apt to use it here as the story is about a bird (although, of course, it was the woman's feathers which were ruffled).

2)Read these headlines. What do you think the stories might be about?

1. MOSCOW BLAST TERROR

2. I’m to reveal soccer lout plans

3. TOP MP IN LONE BATTLE

4. CRACKDOWN ON PORN

5. THUGS BESIEGE TEEN STAR

6. COPS TARGET LOUTS

3) These headlines were written in a pretend tabloid newspaper about Ancient Greece. Match them with the subjects of their stories (a) to (e) below and comment on the features of headline language they contain.

1. NUDE SCIENTIST IN BATHTUB SENSATION

2. KING PHIL'S MACEDONIAN MASH-UP

3. MARATHON MAN IN DROP-DEAD DASH

4. QUADRUPLE ROYAL MURDER SENSATION

5. IT'S CURTAINS FOR CORINTH

a) Mysterious death of four members of the royal family.

b) Philip of Macedonia wins battle against city states of Athens and Thebes.

c) Archimedes' discovery of the laws governing the displacement of water.

d) Burning of city of Corinth to ground by the Romans.

e) Long-distance runner brings news of battle victory to Athens and then dies.

4) Match the newspaper articles with the headlines following them.

1. A girl fell from the top of a 50-metre high cliff at Southport and landed on a sandy beach. After the call, she stood up and walked away with only a broken ankle.

2. Theodore Lee has left all his money to the Society for the Blind. He died in April and his entire will of $ 460,000 goes to the Society.

3. Two men broke into a supermarket in Italy and walked off with 240 tins of dog food, worth Lira 120,000. However, they did not take anything else from the shop.

4. Police yesterday began to look for thieves who stole 14 paintings from a museum in Taipei. The paintings were among the best in the mu­seum.

5. Two lorries crashed at the start of a new road system and caused a 7-mile queue. It took drivers three times longer to travel the same dis­tance as on the old road.

6. Ted Cornwall, aged 77, has started his own telephone service for unhappy people. They can ring his home and listen to his choice of jokes.

7. Robert Tadley had a hard day with his three-year-old daughter. At last he asked, "Why do you cry all the time?" Back came the answer: "But I don't cry when I'm laughing, daddy."

8. An amazing voyage to outer space can at last help scientists to discover the secrets of a mystery planet. The spacecraft Voyager 2 can reach the planet Neptune in three years.

A. Lost art

B. Dial a smile

C. Traffic chaos

D. Girl underground

E. Girl's lucky break

F. Thieves with pets

G. Cats and Dogs

H. Picture of a city

I. Bad language

J. Buying a car

K. Ringing the bells

L. Gift for the blind

M. Like a bird in the sky

N. Journey into space

O. Laughter and tears.

Exercise 8. Fill in the gaps in the sets of sentences below using the words given with each set.

1) A. If you want to receive our organization`s free monthly …, please tick this box.

B. Harry is a big Kylie Minogue fan; he`s got all her CDs, and he subscribes to her most popular ….

C. They published a two-page … for advertising purposes.

- fanzine - flyer - newsletter

2) A. The station wanted to broadcast the show in the morning, but the … insisted that it be aired in the afternoon.

B. He has thorough knowledge of jazz music, but his voice is not good enough for him to be a(n) ….

C. He`s been a(n) … with Radio Wales for years, but he`s just not as good on TV.

- newscaster - producer - announcer

3) A. He hosted a current affairs programmes which featured many heated … between politicians.

B. During his … with Jonathan Stevenson, the Minister was unable to come up with satisfactory answers.

C. In tonight`s programme, criminologist Ian Crown will attempt a thorough … of the alarming rise in crime.

- interview - debate - analysis

Exercise 9. Take any recent story you`ve heard, seen or read, choose and appropriate headline and make up a newspaper article

Exercise 10. Speak on the following topics.

1) What images spring to mind when you hear the word “media”?

2) Imagine that you are talking with your friend about the most popular mass media.

3) Do you always believe the media?

4) How is today`s media different from that of 30 years ago?

5) Does the media have the moral right to report on the private lives of film stars and pop stars?Do you think that the private lives of these people are really news?

6) Give your arguments why you like/dislike reading tabloids (gutter press)?

7) Speak about the most popular magazines in your country?

8) Is there any censorship of the press in your country?

9) Speak about your television-watching habits.

10) Do you think TV violence makes people violent in real life?

11) Give your arguments for and against the Internet.

Exercise 11. Work in pairs. Read the information and discuss:

· Which surprises you the most

· Which is the most worrying

· Which is reassuring or is a good idea

ü The average young person living in the USA watching television 25 hours a week

ü 47% of nine-year-olds in Ireland have a TV in their bedroom.

ü Some experts say that television helps children develop a richer vocabulary.

ü A sociologist has stated that children who don`t watch TV have difficulty relating to their schoolmates.

ü Children`s television shows contain about twenty violent acts per hour.

ü By the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she will have witnessed 8000 murders on TV.

ü TV advertising aimed at children is banned in Sweden.

Exercise 12. Read the rubric below and answer the questions.

There is simply no way that we can get any kind of objective reporting anywhere. Current affairs programmes are biased and uninformative. Newspapers are more interested in gossip than anything which can be called “news”. TV news programmes are more concerned with showing sensationalist details than reporting the facts. Where is this going to lead?

1) Say whether you agree or disagree with each point.

2) How could you support your views?

3) Suggest words and phrases that would be suitable to use in expressing your opinion.

Exercise 13. Translate the following sentences into English using the vocabulary from text A.

1) Якщовивважаєте, щоматеріал не заслуговує на висвітлення у пресі, ви можете спитатидумкиуколегиабоіншої особи. 2) Щоб захопитичитацьку увагу, ви повинні переконатися, що читачі емоційно занурені у вашогоперсонажа і його ситуацію. 3) Вибори, перша політичнаборотьбаміжправлячою правою стороною і опозиційною лівою,почалисяспокійно. 4) Гетерогенніпродукти - цепродуктиіз складниками,якізначновідрізняються один від одного, щоробитьважкимзаміну одного продуктуіншим. 5) За виняткомвипадковоїситуації, яка трапилась з ним, коли він працювавв редакції глянцевого журналу, розмір фотографійможе бути повторно змінений на кольоровомуксероксі і це не вплинена їхкорисність.

6) Інодівдома для обгортання книг ми використовуємопрозорі пластиковікнижкові обкладинки - обкладинкипрофесійногорівня, які використовуються в бібліотеках. 7) У теле- або радіомовленні, глядацьке голосування – цеінтерв'ю з представникамиширокоїгромадськості. Глядацькеголосування – це латинська фраза, що буквально означає голос народу. 8) Шутлива жорстокістьзавждибулаперевагою ексцентричної комедії (фарсу), і, належним чином, така форма виступу отримала свою назвувідоднієїзісвоїхосновнихзброй. 9) Екстреннеповідомленняповідомлює вам всіостанніновини, якіщойно трапились, поєднуючи заголовки з багатьохджерел в єдинийпотік новин. Екстренне повідомлення дозволяєшвидкосканувати і слідкувати заголовними новинами дня, які організованіпо тематикам, які вас цікавлять, будь то новини, бізнес, спорт і навітьплітки про знаменитостей. 10) Ви можете не тількикупитипоточнівидання одного з журналіввІнтернеті, ви можете одразу ж оформити підписку на вибраний вами журнал з нашоговеличезноговибору наявних публікацій. 11) Потіксенсаційних, контекстно-вільних повідомленьмарнопопереджуєгромадськість про те, щовідбувається в медичнихстрахових ринках різнихкраїн. 12) Газети з масовим тиражом, наприклад, такі, які з’явились в 19 століттів Нью-Йорку, намагаються привернути увагуширокоїаудиторії і рекламного ринку. 13) Електроннийпідписможе бути таким жененадійним, як надруковане ім’я. Отже, електронніпідписиможуть вважатисяпроблематичними, коли мовайде про безпеку, боніщо не заважаєодній людинінадрукувати ім’я іншої людини.14)Мовні та електроні ЗМІ сьогодення – цепортативніджереларозваг та інформації,які поширюються за допомогою дротових і бездротовихрадіо- і телестанції та мереж, звуковихта відеозаписів, а такожмобільногоІнтернету. Вони пропонуютьпізнавальні та розважальніпрограми як загальної, так і спеціальної тематики. Їхконкурентивключаютьтрадиційнідрукованізасобиінформації: книги, газети, журнали та розсилки новин. Однак, сьогоднібагаторадіо-і телестанційта мереж публікуютьцифровіелектроннівиданняабоверсії в Інтернетіпоряд звидавцями книг, газет, журналів та розсилок новин.

Pre-reading task

1) Have you ever been in England? If yes, could you describe what sources of mass media did you use?

2) Have you ever read any English newspapers or magazines? Where do you take them from?

3) Do you read on-line English newspapers or probably do you watch on-line news (for example, BBC)? Do they differ from our types of mass media?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16