Newspaper article lesson

Written in the past tense

Written in the third person

Headline - this should be catchy and should tell the reader what the story is about

Lead which answers 5Ws - It is usually one sentence summary of the story.

Quotations or eye witness accounts contains facts and opinions

Other features :

-photographs and captions

-byline

To make newspaper headlines catchy, one can employ one of the following features:

Alliteration

Rhyme

Emotive language

Rhetorical question

Deadly Cat Calamity

In this headline the sound /k/ had been repeats in cat and calamity. This is alliteration.

Clean Chocolate is not alliterative because even though they both begin with c, the initial sounds are different. clean = /k/ while chocolate= /ch/

There is also the use of emotive language as the words 'deadly' and 'calamity' are words that appeals to our emotions.

Want to Control Your Dreams?

This is a rhetorical question which will get the reader thinking, trying to find answers. This will make the reader want to read to find the answers.

Not Too Cool For School

This headline has a rhyme - cool and school.

Rhymes are attractive and will attract the reader

The lead is the first sentence in a newspaper report. It summarises the story and answers as many of the 5Ws as possible in a single sentence.

Examples:

Three people have been killed in last night's heavy rains, which destroyed properties and rendered many homeless.

Manchester United suffered a heavy defeat to Krystal Palace in their season opener last Saturday at the Old Trafford Stadium.

It is important to include comments or quotations from people involved in the story directly or people who witnessed the events you are writing about.

-This makes the story seem believable or authentic.

-They give the reader more information about the story.

This can be done as a direct speech or a reported speech.

Direct speech is when you write the exact words of a person. This is usually put in speech marks.

Example: Kojo, one of the boy's who witnessed the accident said,'' I saw the blue care jump the red light so I ran quickly behind the tree. My friend Tolani did not see it and got hit''

This can also be written as a reported speech. Reported speech is not the exact words of a person but rather,

Example: Kojo, one of the boys who witnessed the accident said that he saw the blue car jump the red light and so he ran quickly behind the tree. He said that his friend Tolani did not see the car and she got hit.

The final paragraph ends the story by referring to the future or similar events in the past.

Example:

The final paragraph of the Manchester United story could be - The coach of Manchester United, Solksjaer, has promised the United fans better performance in their next match and has warned his players to up their game.

The story about the flood could end this way - The Accra Mayor, Mr. Oko, has directed his engineers to clear all water ways in order to prevent future floods and by so doing save lives and properties. The people of Accra are however, skeptical as this has become a perennial problem