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A good headline is very important when you are writing a newspaper report. If your headline is not interesting enough, nobody will bother reading the rest of the article!

 

Most headlines are short and snappy. They are usually written in the present tense and do not need to be complete sentences.

For example:

Dog rescues man from river (Not: A dog rescued a man from a river.)

 

Many headlines use word play such as puns (where a word has more than one meaning or two words sound alike), or change words for comic effect.

For example:

Cat-astrophe of missing kitten

 

Rhyme and alliteration (where two or more words begin with the same sound) are also popular with headline writers.

For example:

Daring dog defies death

Lucky ducky!

In this activity you can practise writing headlines for newspaper stories.

8 questions