dies/died at 89

Status
Not open for further replies.

Tan Elaine

Key Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
Police officer who took on gangland boss dies at 89.

This is the headline of a piece of news in the newspaper I read recently.

Is 'dies' correct? Could 'died' be used instead?

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:

corum

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
Police officer who took on gangland boss dies at 89.

This is the headline of a pieces of news in the newspaper I read recently.

Is 'dies' correct? Could 'died' be used instead?

Thanks in advance.

Fine. It's "newspaper" grammar.
 

Tan Elaine

Key Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
Thanks, Corum.

So, strictly speaking, the correct word should be 'died'.

Why do newspapers allow such glaring errors to appear?

Any information would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks, again.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Thanks, Corum.

So, strictly speaking, the correct word should be 'died'.

Why do newspapers allow such glaring errors to appear?

Any information would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks, again.

With newspapers, the headlines frequently use structures which would be deemed grammatically incorrect in most circumstances. It's regularly to do with a lack of space so they use as few words as possible and, as with, your example, frequently use the present tense.

Man finds body in woods = A man has found a body in the woods.
Child missing in lake = A child has disappeared in a lake.
Pope dies aged 89 = The Pope has died, aged 89.

As you can see, articles are missed out and tenses are not necessarily the same as you would normally use.
 

elhithebest

Junior Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Argentina
Current Location
Argentina
Thanks, Corum.

So, strictly speaking, the correct word should be 'died'.

Why do newspapers allow such glaring errors to appear?

Any information would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks, again.


It is common to use the simple present in newspapers headlines to refer to past events.
In Alexander (grammar book) you can see it.
I gess you could find it in any grammar book but that´s the one I saw in my 1st year

:)
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Yes, I want to restate that. Newspapers use the present tense frequently in their headlines. It's not an error.

Mcdowell Wins US Open
School Board Okays New Curriculum
Police Seize Drugs, Paraphernalia
Thousands Protest Budget Cuts
 

Tan Elaine

Key Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
Yes, I want to restate that. Newspapers use the present tense frequently in their headlines. It's not an error.

Mcdowell Wins US Open
School Board Okays New Curriculum
Police Seize Drugs, Paraphernalia
Thousands Protest Budget Cuts

Thanks, Barb.

Your examples are all in simple present tense, but mine contains the past and present tenses, which I find strange.


Police officer who took on gangland boss dies at 89.

Why did the editor not change 'took' to 'takes' to be consistent?

I would appreciate any response from any member.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Police officer who took on gangland boss dies at 89.

Why did the editor not change 'took' to 'takes' to be consistent?

Newspapers use the present tense to report very recent events to indicate immediacy.

Thus we know that 'Police officer dies at 89' is the way newspapers report the fact that the police officer has just died.

In this case the police officer took on the gangland boss well in the past - before he retired many years ago.

Rover
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top