看不懂英文新聞標題嗎？讀懂 10 個英文新聞的奇怪文法（標題省略文法）

為什麼英文新聞標題的文法都這麼奇怪？如果你常看不懂英文新聞標題，那是很正常的。英文新聞標題常常使用標題省略文法（非正確的文法），以簡潔明瞭的方式呈現新聞的主要內容。這些省略可能包括省略主詞、動詞、助動詞或主詞和動詞，通常是為了在有限的字數或空間中傳達足夠的訊息。

這樣的省略文法術語稱為 ellipsis。

在報紙標題中省略定冠詞或不定冠詞是為了簡潔明瞭並吸引更多注意力。關於標題有一些規則（通常只適用於報紙和雜誌，而不是研究期刊）。通常使用現在簡單式，就算是過去發生的事情。

關於冠詞，只要意思明確，就可以省略它們。例如，《泰晤士報》的標題「Fees will create class of stay-at-home students」，正確的文法應為 「…a class…」。另一方面，《每日郵報》的記者在標題的長度上毫不吝嗇，他們的標題如 「How the rebels planned assault on Tripoli: Call to arms for ‘sleeper cells’ came from mosques」。因此，這更像是一個「經驗法則」而不是文法規則。

但是在科學論文中通常會更加明確，而不會省略冠詞。

新聞文法範例

• Headline: “Man found dead in river”
  Complete version: A man has been found dead in the river.
• Headline: “Biden announces new COVID-19 measures”
  Complete version: President Biden has announced new measures to combat COVID-19.
• Headline: “Record-breaking snowfall hits New York”
  Complete version: New York has experienced record-breaking snowfall.
• Headline: “Scientists discover new species of bird”
  Complete version: Scientists have discovered a new species of bird.
• Headline: “Police arrest suspect in robbery case”
  Complete version: The police have arrested a suspect in connection with a robbery case.
• Headline: “Stocks plunge amid economic uncertainty”
  Complete version: The stock market has experienced a significant decline due to economic uncertainty.
• Headline: “Tropical storm approaches Florida coast”
  Complete version: A tropical storm is approaching the coast of Florida.
• Headline: “Australia to phase out coal-fired power plants”
  Complete version: The Australian government plans to phase out the use of coal-fired power plants.
• Headline: “Expert predicts rise in global temperatures”
  Complete version: An expert has predicted a rise in global temperatures.
• Headline: “Facebook introduces new privacy settings”
  Complete version: Facebook has introduced new privacy settings for its users.

要怎麼練習讀懂英文新聞標題

1. 專注關鍵字：省略掉的詞彙通常是一些不影響理解的冠詞、介詞、連接詞等。因此，專注關鍵字，例如主詞、動詞和形容詞等可以幫助你理解標題的含義。
2. 閱讀更多新聞：通過閱讀更多新聞，您可以熟悉不同的新聞標題和文法，並且可以更好地理解省略掉的新聞標題的含義。
3. 其實要讀懂英文新聞真的很不容易，也可以來免費上國際新聞的英文課 (介紹)，有老師導讀跟回答問題，就能學得更快喔！

參考文章：

• What’s the general rule for dropping articles in article & section titles or in figure & table captions? – English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
• syntactic analysis – Why do newspaper headlines use strange syntax rules? – English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
• Newspaper headlines – Grammar – Cambridge Dictionary