Newspaper Structure and Tonic Personal Pronouns
Newspaper Sections and Content
Most of the text found in a newspaper is news. As you know, news is always grouped into sections. Each section addresses a particular theme (International, National, Local, Economy, Sports, Culture, etc.).
The majority of newspapers have the same parts, but each is placed in a different order and gives more importance to one than the other.
The Structure of News Articles
Headlines and Their Functions
Headlines are the key element of news: they capture the attention of the reader and provide basic information. Often, only the title appears. When it is not enough, it is accompanied by an antetítulo (pre-title) or a caption, which broadens the information.
The Body and the Lead Paragraph
The body expands and explains the statement in the headlines. The opening paragraph is called the lead or starter (entradiña), and it has to show essential summarized data.
- Antetítulo / Pre-title (+ important)
- Title / Subtitle
- Entradiña (Lead)
- Text news / Body (- important)
Types of News Headlines
Headlines draw our attention and express the most important information. They are a summary of what the text tells us:
- Informative: To summarize the contents, stating only what happened.
- Evaluative: Provision of a headline element that shows the newspaper's opinion on what happened.
The Chronicle: In-Depth Reporting
When the news does not tell us with enough depth, we want someone to regard things in more detail, including following their assessment of what happened. Such a text is a chronicle. At the beginning of a chronicle, the name of the person who wrote it appears, and rankings may appear.
Unit 7: Vocabulary
- Alacrán: scorpion
- Butterfly: borboreta
- Carricanta: cicada
- Cockroach: cucaracha
- Beetle: escarabajo
- Limache: aloe/slug
- Lucecú: luciernaga (firefly)
- Saltón: saltamonte (grasshopper)
- Hedge: keto/sebe
- Vacaloura: Cierva wheel (stag beetle)
Understanding Tonic Personal Pronouns
Tonic personal pronouns are grammatical forms that replace nouns or noun phrases and have the accent of intensity; i.e., they are a phonic unit themselves. They are variable because they change based on gender, number, and person.
Direct and Oblique Forms
Direct forms of the tonic personal pronoun (which do not take a preceding preposition) perform the following functions:
- Subject: I am late.
- Attribute: Who better to play billiards than you (ye)?
Oblique forms will always be preceded by prepositions and can perform the following functions:
- Direct Object: Chamoume a min (He called me) to go to the movies.
- Indirect Object: Tocouvos a vós (It was your turn) in one of the raffles.
- Circumstantial Complement: They were with them.
- Prepositional Complement: We told them about their parents.
- Agent Complement: The outfit was designed by him.