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Chapter 7

Powerpoints for Instructors

Concise compact and active news language

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Exercises

Exercise 1: Use of nominalizations and long noun groups in news stories

Open and read the text below. Underline all the occurrences of nominalizations and long noun groups. Then do the exercise below.

Japanese catwalk robot unveiled

Japanese researchers have invented a catwalk model robot that will soon strut her stuff at Tokyo fashion shows.

www.telegraph.co.uk, March 16, 2009 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/fashionnews/5000769/Japanese-catwalk-robot-unveiled.html)

What is the meaning of the following noun groups?

  1. Japanese catwalk robot unveiled:
  2. catwalk model robot
  3. Tokyo fashion shows
  4. shoulder-length hair
  5. slightly oversized eyes
  6. flesh-and-blood fashion models
  7. her sound recognition sensors
  8. a slightly manga-inspired human face
  9. A robot for catwalks made in Japan

Exercise 2: Uses of the passive voice in news stories

Chapter 4 explained the different uses of the passive voice in news stories. Open the following link, read the story and analyse the uses of the passive voice and explain the functions this serves in the article.

Man is Arrested in Death of Brooklyn Bus Driver

(Christine Hauser, The New York Times, December 3, 2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/nyregion/03arrest.html?_r=0

Exercise 3: Use of syntax in news stories

Look at the two articles used in Exercise 4, Chapter 4:

Riot police gather at besieged Thai airport

By Ed Cropley, Reuters, November 28, 2008 (http://www.independent.co.uk) (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/riot-police-gather-at-besieged-thai-airport-1039469.html)

Thai protesters defiant as police boost presence Associated Press, November 28, 2008 (http://abclocal.go.com)

(http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=6529573)

Exercise 4, Chapter 4, was aimed at comparing how the angle from which the news is presented determines the choice of the accompanying pictures.

In this exercise, you are asked to compare the two articles and analyse how the linguistic structures used in the article also contribute to creating and reinforcing a particular interpretation of the events.

As was seen in Exercise 4, Chapter 4, both articles at the links below tell the story of anti-government protestors occupying the two main airports in Thailand and blocking heading air traffic, in clashes with the Thai police. However, while article by Reuters – reported in the Independent – emphasizes the police’s attempts to control the events and break up the protest, the Associated Press article – reported on abcnews – focuses on the active role of the protesters occupying the airports and their unwillingness to stop the protest.

Read the two articles and compare and contrast how language is used in the two texts. In particular, focus on:

  • The syntactic choices made in the two headlines and texts (in particular with regard to which subjects are thematized in the two stories, and made subjects of action/relational verbs)
  • The lexical choices made in the two stories
  • The kind of information presented (number of quotes and their sources, amount of detail, etc.)

How do the syntactic and lexical choices in the two stories contribute to creating a different angle in the texts? How is this reflected in the headlines?

Exercise 4: The construction of the ‘silent’ character in the news story

The following article talks about the temporary release of the Iranian human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh. Though in this article Nasrin Sotoudeh is the main protagonist of the story, she appears to be a silent character, rather than a protagonist of the events described in the story. Read the story and analyse how she is portrayed as a ‘silent’ character through the use of syntactic choices made in the text.

Iranian human rights attorney temporarily released from prison

http://www.latimes.com, January 18, 2013, (http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-iran-attorney-released-20130118,0,2368510.story?track=lat-email-latimesworldnews)