News Item

News Item
• 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, etc.
• Using Saying Verbs, e.g.: say, tell
• Focus on Circumstances
• Use of projecting Verbal Processes in Sources stages

• 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