Analyse the following articles to identify typical features of the genre Business News Articles. Think about layout, organisation, content and linguistic features. Ignore advertisements, video and anything else which is not part of the article itself. Then scroll down to see the suggested answer. If it contains any technical terms which you're not sure of, you'll find them fully explained in the ELT Glossary.
In the suggested answer, to show that the feature is “typical”, examples have usually been provided from at least 3 texts. If it is a feature you didn’t spot, look at the other texts to see if you can find similar examples there.
1. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/14/rolls-royce-cut-jobs-britain
3. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/15/tesco-posts-highest-growth-in-seven-years
7. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44473148
Layout, Organisation and Content
A. Layout : Headline in large, bold font (all texts), usually followed by a
subhead in slightly smaller font (but larger than the text) and again using bold
text (texts 1-5) to highlight it. All articles also include a byline (with the
writer’s name and/or date/time of publication or updating). This may be positioned under
the headline or subhead (4-7) or in the sidebar (1-3)
B. Layout : Illustrative photo included near the beginning of the article
to catch the reader’s attention – eg 2
– a typical home delivery crate; 3 – the company logo; 4 – a branch of the bank.
This is usually followed by a one-sentence caption explaining the relevance of
the photo to the article (Texts 1,2,3,6,7).
C. Organisation : Text divided into short paragraphs composed of only
maximum three and normally only one or two sentences (all texts)
D. Content : Frequent
inclusion of precise numerical information : 4 This year is on
track to overtake 2017, when 879 branches closed their doors for
good; 5 Sustainable Fish Cities show 71 per cent of it is imported,
equating to a potential £62m annual market; 7 The US unemployment
rate hovers at 3.8%
Linguistic features
E. Both the headline and the subhead use different verb forms from “ordinary” grammar to describe events. Future events - eg 1 Rolls Royce to cut 3000 jobs = to + infinitive for economy of space rather than Be to + infinitive ot Be going to + infinitive; past events; Past events= present simple - eg 1 Aircraft maker announces restructuring…; 2 “Ethical grocer” Farmdrop raises investment…; 3 Tesco posts highest growth in seven years; passive verbs indicated by the past participle only with the auxiliary BE ellipted : 3 Supermarket chain boosted by…
F. First line of text uses present perfect to describe a past event in order to emphasise its present relevance – eg: 1 Rolls Royce has announced…; 2 The online ethical grocer Farmdrop has raised £10m…; 3 Tesco has recorded its strongest growth in seven years…;
G. Apposition used to give extra information about people, organisations, places etc involved in the story as concisely as possible – eg 1 Derby, the group’s biggest manufacturing base in the UK; 2 “Ethical Grocer” Farmdrop…; 3 The company’s chief executive, Dave Lewis,
H. People involved are quoted using both:
a) indirect speech –
eg 1 Warren East…. said the UK would bear
the brunt…; 2 Pugh says the company
gives its 300-plus producers a bigger share of the profits than the
supermarkets…; 3 The company’s chief
executive, Dave Lewis, said food price inflation had dropped…
b) direct speech – eg 1 “It’s a horrible decision, never easy” he said…; 2 He says the major supermarkets “are having to annihilate producers on price…”; 7 But, he added, “We really don’t see it in the numbers.” The reporting verbs are usually in the past simple (eg 1 he said; 3 Lewis said.. ; 7 he added…) but may also be in the present simple (eg 2 Pugh says; 6 Adam Tomlinson..says…) 7 Hyland says)
I. Frequent use of lexis in the field of financial trends. Eg – 2 …sales have doubled in the last nine
months…; 6 Poundworld sales grew 55 per cent in 2012…; 7 They
expect the core inflation rate to rise…
You should have noticed that the features divide into two groups - those that are specific to business news (features D and I) and others which are common to press articles in general (all the others). Very often, features typical of a particular genre category (here, press articles) will outnumber those specific to the subgenre. You need to look for both types of feature when you are analysing any particular genre type.
