Style in the Tabloids

B. The language of the tabloid newspapers is unlike any encountered in other contexts (e.g. conversation or other forms of writing).

Look at this example and with a partner, see what features of tabloid style reporting you can identify.

Shapely starlet and funloving former convent girl Diane Fox, 19, dropped a bombshell yesterday. Her whirlwind romance with lean, bronze lorry-driver, Bert Ford, 26, is off. In an exclusive interview at her hideaway love-nest, Diane said: «He vowed to wed me, but we were living a lie».

Unsung hero of the M6 motorway madness pileup, Bert swept Diane off her feet during a long, hot summer on the sun-kissed beaches of the island paradise of San Serife, where she had fled amid mounting speculation that her film career had reached rock-bottom. «My anguish turned to joy. It was like a dream come true. He made me feel like a princess», said Diane, fighting back the tears.

But the dream soon turned into a nightmare when Bert moved into Diane's luxury mansion in leafy Surrey. «He quaffed all my whisky and spent all my crisp banknotes», she said. She knew the writing was on the wall when Bert's mother, battling granny Ena Ford, 61, moved in too. That set the alarm bells ringing. It was a recipe for disaster and soon the feathers were really flying.

The moment of truth came when Bert's credit card bill dropped with a sickening thud through Diane's letter box. After a lovers' tiff, Bert stormed out. «I'll never be the same again», sobbed Diane. The rest is history.

Speaking from his sleazy, suburban home in Catford, with a mystery girl by his side, Bert was tight-lipped and ashen-faced. «I’т as sick as a parrot», was his exclusive comment to this newspaper.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the general tone of the extract?

2. What are the devices that make the style sensationally coloured?

3. What is the contrast between the sensationalist style and the events reported aimed at?

4. What is the effect of formal words in a colloquial context?

5. Do you find adjectives excessive?

6. What is specific about the use of metaphor in the text?

7. What newspaper clichés can you mark?

8. What is peculiar about the descriptive phrases used in the passage?

9. Sum up your observations.

Now rewrite the piece in your own words to indicate what the story was.

THEME THREE