News Item part 1 and 2

Part 1 and 2

Assalamualaikum...😊

Hello everyone🖐...welcome back to my blog. My name is Lutfi and i will share you about news item📝

English material that we will discuss now is news items text. Before I explain it, I want to ask you, Do you like watching news in television? Do you like reading newspaper? If you like doing all those things, it means that you are familiar with news item, but what is news item text? Many students do not know what exactly it is. Although, this text is learned in senior high school, most of them still get difficulties if they are asked to write news item text.

Before you try to make a news item text, it is better if you know first ‘what is news item text?’. News item text is a text that relates to the news. There are two kinds of news item text, written and spoken. News that we read in newspaper is written text form. News that we hear in radio or television is spoken text form. This text also has the generic structure. Those are newsworthy event, sources and background events.

📝 Definition of News Item

News item is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important. It means if there is an important event that should be known by many people, then this event deserves news. Well, the news text is called the news item text. However, if there are events that people do not deserve, then they are not definitely worth to be news.

📝 Generic Structure of News Item

There are three important things in news item text:

➡️ Main Events / Newsworthy event(s): it recounts the event in summary form.

➡️ Elaboration / Background event(s): they elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstance.

➡️ Resource of Information (Source) : it contains comments by participants in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event.

👉 Example

📝Purpose of News Item

News Item Text is used to inform readers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.

👉To inform the readers about newsworthy or important events of the day

👉 To present information the readers about newsworthy or important events of the day

📝Language Feature of News Item

📢Focusing on circumstances (using a simple language in writing the text)

📢Using saying verbs: “….”, She said, informed, told, reported.

📢Sometimes at the beginning of news, the scene is mentioned : Jakarta – … .. / Kuala Lumpur – …

📢Using Past tense in explaining news events. But if it is a fact that until now still happen or still in the form of fact, then can use simple present tense.

📢Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline

📢Using adverbs: time, place and manner.

📢Uses of material processes to retell the event

📝Direct Speech

When we want to describe what someone said, one option is to use direct speech. We use direct speech when we simply repeat what someone says, putting the phrase between speech marks:

📢Paul came in and said, “I’m really hungry.”

It is very common to see direct speech used in books or in a newspaper article. For example:

📢The local MP said, “We plan to make this city a safer place for everyone.”

As you can see, with direct speech it is common to use the verb ‘to say’ (‘said’ in the past). But you can also find other verbs used to indicate direct speech such as ‘ask’, ‘reply’, and ‘shout’. For example:

📢When Mrs Diaz opened the door, I asked, “Have you seen Lee?”

She replied, “No, I haven’t seen him since lunchtime.”

The boss was angry and shouted, “Why isn’t he here? He hasn’t finished that report yet!”

📝 Indirect Speech

📢When we want to report what someone said without speech marks and without necessarily using exactly the same words, we can use indirect speech (also called reported speech). For example:

📢Direct speech: “We’re quite cold in here.”

Indirect speech: They say (that) they’re cold.

When we report what someone says in the present simple, as in the above sentence, we normally don’t change the tense, we simply change the subject. However, when we report things in the past, we usually change the tense by moving it one step back. For example, in the following sentence the present simple becomes the past simple in direct speech

📢 Direct speech: “I have a new car.”

Indirect speech: He said he had a new car.

All the other tenses follow a similar change in indirect speech. Here is an example for all the main tenses:

📝Using ‘say’ or ‘tell’

👉As an alternative to using ‘say’ we can also use ‘tell’ (‘told’ in the past) in reported speech, but in this case you need to add the object pronoun. For example:

👉He told me he was going to call Alan.

They told her they would arrive a little late.

You told us you’d already finished the order.

Changing Time Expressions

👉Sometimes it’s necessary to change the time expressions when you report speech, especially when you are speaking about the past and the time reference no longer applies. For example:

👉Direct speech: “I’m seeing my brother tomorrow.”

Indirect speech: She said she was seeing her brother the following day.

Here are some other examples:

👉Direct speech: “I had a headache yesterday.”

Indirect speech: You said you’d had a headache the day before yesterday.

Direct speech: “It’s been raining since this afternoon.”

Indirect speech: He said it’d been raining since that afternoon.

Direct speech: “I haven’t seen them since last week.”

Indirect speech: She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous week.

📝 Reporting Questions

👉When you report a question you need to change the interrogative form into an affirmative sentence, putting the verb tense one step back, as with normal reported speech.

👉There are two types of questions that we can report – questions that have a yes/no response, and questions that begin with a question word like ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘who’ etc. When we report a yes/no question, we use ‘if’. For example:

👉Direct speech: “Do they live here?”

Indirect speech: You asked me if they lived here.

As you can see, in the reported version of the question, ‘do’ is eliminated because it is no longer a question, and the verb ‘live’ becomes ‘lived’.

👉For questions starting with question words like ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘who’, etc., we report the question using the question word but change the interrogative form to the affirmative form. For example:

👉Direct speech: “Where do they live?”

Indirect speech: You asked me where they lived.

Direct speech: “When are you leaving?”

Indirect speech: He asked us when we were leaving.

Direct speech: “How will they get here?”

Indirect speech: She asked me how they would get here.

When we report a question we normally use the verb ‘ask’. As with the verb ‘to tell’, the verb ‘to ask’ is normally followed by an object pronoun, though it is possible to omit it.

📝 Reporting Orders and Requests

👉When you give someone an order, you use the imperative form, which means using just the verb without a subject. For example:

“Call me back later.”

“Have a seat.”

“Don’t do that!”

To report an order we use ‘tell’ and the infinitive of the verb. For example:

● You told me to call you back later.

● He told me to have a seat.

● She told us not to do that.

When you make a request, you normally use words like ‘can’, ‘could’, or ‘will’.

For example:

“Could you call me back later?”