The Lexicogrammatical Features of the Headline

TEXT II

Fire Erupts at Illegal Oil Well in Indonesia

The Headline

1) Bigger and bold fonts stating the newsworthy facts of the event

2) Telegraphic sentence: leaving out function words.

- Fire (telegraphic) = a fire (normal)

3) The Simple Present Tense for ‘active’ voice

- Fire Erupts at Illegal Oil Well in Indonesia

- (for the normal form “... erupted / has erupted ...)

The Lexicogrammatical Features of the Newsworthy Event

The Newsworthy Events

4) A sentence or sentences in the first paragraph containing all important facts about the
event: (1) the casualty, (2) the accident, (3) the reason, (4) the time, and (5) the location; the
verb in the past simple and Passive Voice.

Jakarta: A fire erupted at an illegal oil well site in Indonesia’s northernmost province on
Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 40 others, some of whom were badly
burnt, authorities said.

5) It starts with the name of the place where the news was reported, in small cap characters:

JAKARTA: ...

The Lexicogrammatical Features of the Events in Details

The Events in Details

1) Tenses associated with past events: past tenses (simple past, past progressive, past perfect)
and present perfect are used to state the details of the event

2nd paragraph: broke out

3rd paragraph: were still trying, had caused, have started

4th paragraph: showed

5th paragraph: had gathered

6th paragraph: brought

7th paragraph: were gutted, were still trying

8th paragraph: sent

9th paragraph: was being operated

10th paragraph were trying

11st paragraph were abandoned

2) The passive voice

- At least five homes were gutted by the fire,. ...

3) Direct quotations to report the events

- “"Oil doesn't come up to the surface easily in these old wells, so they try to pump it up
manually, then try to separate the oil by distillation in barrels, and that's where they probably had
the fire," said Mangantar Marpaung, former chief of the Indonesian Mining Fire and Rescue
Agency..

4) Indirect quotations to report the events

· At least five homes were gutted by the fire, the agency said. Firefighters and other
emergency personnel, along with villagers, were still trying to contain the blaze on Wednesday
evening.

· Agung said the well was being operated by local residents, adding that he was not sure if
there were other illegal wells in the area.

5) Participle [present] to state the circumstances surrounding the event

In hopes of collecting crude oil after being told about a massive spill there,

6) Adjective clauses to add more information about a person/thing

Flames rising at least 10 metres into the air in the farming village of Pasir Putih in East Aceh
district, which is about 1600 kilometres north-west of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

7) Prepositional phrases to state the circumstances surrounding the events

- at an illegal oil well site

- in Indonesia's northernmost province

- in Aceh province

- about 1600 kilometres north-west of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

- on Wednesday evening
TEXT III

Elephant poachers arrested in Malaysia

The Headline

6) Bigger and bold fonts stating the newsworthy facts of the event

7) Telegraphic sentence: leaving out function words.

- Elephant poachers (telegraphic) = The elephant poachers (normal)

8) The Simple Past Tense for ‘active’ voice

- Elephant poachers arrested in Malaysia

The Lexicogrammatical Features of the Newsworthy Event

The Newsworthy Events

9) A sentence or sentences in the first paragraph containing all important facts about the
event: (1) the suspects, (2) the accident, (3) the reason, (4) the time, and the verb in the past
simple and Passive Voice.

Four heavily armed poachers who targeted wild elephants in Malaysia have been caught, officials
said Tuesday, the second such arrest in less than two years..

10) It starts with the name of the place where the news was reported, in small cap characters:

MALAYSIA: ...

The Lexicogrammatical Features of the Events in Details

The Events in Details

8) Tenses associated with past events: past tenses (simple past, past progressive, past perfect)
and present perfect are used to state the details of the event

2nd paragraph: was found

3rd paragraph: led

4th paragraph: showed

6th paragraph were found

7th paragraph were not found, were already sold

8th paragraph were believed

9) The passive voice

- Wildlife officials said the gang caught near the town of Gerik in the nothern Malaysian
state of Perak was found with deer antlers and suspected tiger bones.

- The elephant’s tusks were not found,

10) Direct quotations to report the events

- “This crew is notorious. They hunt elephants,” wildlife department chief Abdul Kadir Abdul
Hashim told AFP.

- “There are maybe two more [poaching] groups [in the area]. We are working together
with the police on this.”

11) Indirect quotations to report the events

· Wildlife officials said the gang caught near the town of Gerik in the nothern Malaysian
state of Perak was found with deer antlers and suspected tiger bones

12) Participle [present] to state the circumstances surrounding the event

weapons including rifles and homemade shotguns

13) Participle (past) to modify nouns

an elephant shot dead by the poachers

14) Prepositional phrases to state the circumstances surrounding the events

- near the town of Gerik

- in a nearby forest

- in the nearby state of Kelantan.

- in Kelantan