news headine

[smi4frnz]

anna breaks fast tomorrow


is the usage of "breaks" correct?

[5jj]

a Anna breaks fast tomorrow

It's rather archaic in normal language , but fine in a headline. We'd have to read the article to find out what it means exactly. It is more likely to be about someone who has ended a period of fasting than about someone who is going to have breakfast.

If we were to use it outside a headline, we need to say, "Anna breaks/is breaking/is going to break/etc her fast tomorrow", though we'd probably say that she was ending it.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=smi4frnz;818406]


NOT A TEACHER


(1) Are you studying journalism? That's great. I hear that newspapers are doing very well in your country.

(2) I think that the infinitive is often used for future events in headlines:

Anna To Break Fast Tomorrow

(3) As the teacher told, us the present tense is also used. Journalism books tell us

that the present tense is often used for immediate future events:

Anna Breaks Fast Tomorrow

(4) Maybe the infinitive might be more appropriate in:

Anna To Break Fast in 2012

(5) Newspapers also use the future tense sometimes:

Anna Will Break Fast Tomorrow

(6) Which headline do you think is the most interesting and the most exciting? Which headline would make you buy a copy of the newspaper?

Anna To Break Fast Tomorrow

Anna Will Break Fast Tomorrow

Anna Breaks Fast Tomorrow

[bhaisahab]

For information: Anna breaks fast, vows to continue fight - Times Of India

[5jj]

Thanks for that, bhai. It does show the importance of context - I assumed that Anna was female. It would also have been useful to know the source at the beginning of the thread. Indian English, a valid variety, differs quite significantly in some aspects from AmE, BrE, AusE, etc. As it happens, the headline here would probably have been the same in all these varieties, so it's not important this time, but it could have been.