Do Newspaper Headlines use Correct English.
The term "Correct English" is in itself very controversial, as Trudgil states "there are no linguistic reasons for stating that any language is superior to any other". Standard English and the prescriptive approach to grammar are usually referred to as "Correct English," but this is simply a foklinguistic belief. Newspaper headlines do not tend to use this approach to grammar instead they frequently use a descriptive method, which the reasons for will now be discussed. .
Many headlines compress use a "telegraphic style," which omits unnecessary verbs and determiners, making the headline an incomplete sentence. The Independent broadsheet newspaper recently used the headline, "Another day, another death-trap for the US." This is not a complete sentence, as it does not even contain one clause, due to there being no verb phrase. All of the phrases are noun phrases, which is very contradictory of the standard sentence structure in English, which is SVO. However, by omitting the verb the headlines transmit the message quicker and also plays on the well known colloquialism "another day, another dollar." .
Another headline, "Chaos and Storms Sweep South," from the Telegraph uses this technique. In Standard English it would have read "There has been chaos in some areas of the south due to storms," if was written "correctly." However, this is far too long and would not fit the headlines purpose to attract the reader's attention. By "compressing" the sentence, the headline's dramatic impact is increased, as the emotive abstract noun, "Chaos," is at the front. .
A further example again from The Independent is "Police appeal for shoppers who may have seen Toni-Ann on day before her death." This would not be considered "Correct English, as a definite article is missing, the wrong tense has been used and there is no adverbial phrase to specify what the police are appealing for the shoppers to actually do.
