Lingoda Group Class Notes 41
Topic: Understanding news headlines Relatedskill: Communication
Date: 5 November 2024 Teacher:JOANNE
What I've learned
Idioms
No news is good news - Meaning: If you don’t hear any news, then you can assume that nothing is wrong - Example: We haven’t heard anything yet from the hospital, but I guess no news is good news.
Vocabularies & Phrases
| V&P | Definiation | Note |
|---|---|---|
| vow | v. 发誓；起誓；立誓 | She vowed to improve her performance next time. |
| jail | v. 监禁；关入监狱；把…下牢 | The court ruled to jail the suspect(n. 嫌疑犯) for five years. |
| key takeaways | 主要收获：从某个经验、事件或信息中得到的最重要的结论或教训 | The key takeaways from the debate were summarised in the newspaper article. |
| break one's silence | 某人打破缄默 | After weeks of speculation, the actor finally broke his silence on the controversy. |
| catchy | adj. 投合时好的；动人的；(曲调)易记的；(问题)费解的 | Journalists often break rules to save space or make a headline catchier. |
Expressions
As the old saying goes: “Rules are meant to be broken!” When it comes to grammar, many journalists would agree. Many rules of the English language that you might have learned don’t always apply in news headlines. Take a look at these examples:
- Explosion in fireworks factory; 20 workers injured
- Princess to marry popstar
- Farmer loses court case
In each one of these headlines, the verb is different to how it should be in speech.
| Headline | Description |
|---|---|
| Explosion in fireworks factory; 20 workers injured | Verb to be is missing |
| Princess to marry popstar | Verb is in the infinitive |
| Farmer loses court case | Verb is in present simple tense, and not the perfect |
Journalists often break rules to save space or make a headline catchier. Compare the headlines with normal spoken or written English to see the difference.
| Headline | Normal English |
|---|---|
| Explosion in fireworks factory; 20 workers injured | There has been an explosion in a fireworks factory; 20 workers have been injured. |
| Princess to marry popstar | A princess is going to marry a popstar. |
| Farmer loses court case | A farmer has lost a court case. |
You will also note that headlines leave out indefinite and definite articles, such as a, an, and the.
Review
3.5/5
Same teacher possibility: 50%
Joanne feels like a new teacher on Lingoda. She isn’t very familiar with the course material, as she often reads it line by line. However, she is a dedicated teacher and asked us to give her feedback so she can improve. I hope she does great in the future.
Resources
- Learning material
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esl+news+headlines