The newspaper FS

English newspaper writing dates from the 17^th century. The first of any regular English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared in May, 1622. The early English newspaper was principally a vehicle of information. Commentary found its way into the newspapers later. But as far back as the middle of the 18^th century the British newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying foreign and domestic news, advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments.

Not all the printed materials found in newspapers come under newspaper style. Only materials which perform the function of informing the reader and providing him with an evaluation of information published can be regarded as belonging to newspaper style. English newspaper style can be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader. Information in the English newspaper is conveyed through the medium of:

1) brief news items;

2) press reports;

3) articles purely informational in character;

4) advertisements and announcements.

The function of Brief items: is to inform the reader. It states only facts without giving comments. The vocabulary used is neutral and common literary. Specific features are:

a) special political and economic terms;

b) non-term political vocabulary;

c) newspaper clichés;

d) abbreviations;

e) neologisms.

Headlines. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news is to follow about. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences, interrogative sentences, nominative sentences, elliptical sentences, sentences with articles omitted, headlines including direct speech.

Advertisements and announcements. The function of advertisements and announcements is to inform the reader. There are two types of them: classified and non-classified. In classified the information is arranged according to the subject matter: births, marriages, deaths, business offers, personal etc.

The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary, casting some doubt on the facts recorded, and syntactical constructions indicating a lack of assurance of the reporter or his desire to avoid responsibility. The principle vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular.

Editorial is a leading article which is characterized by a subjective handling of facts. This purpose defines the choice of language elements which are mostly emotionally colored.

Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:

1) special political and economic terms (president, election);

2) non-term political vocabulary (nation, crisis, agreement, member);

3) newspaper clichés (pressing problem, danger of war, pillars of society);

4) abbreviations (NATO, EEC);

5) neologisms.