On Passives Occurring in Newspaper Headlines

The purpose of this study is to investigate the passive voice as it occurs in newspaper headlines. The passive voice is often used in headlines in order to highlight the objectivity of a newspaper article. As headlines must be as short as possible, 6y-phrases of agents are omitted as redundant. Declerck (1991) proposes six factors to pick out a passive construction: (1) indefinite or vague agents, (2) self-evident agents, (3) emphasized agents, (4) converted agents, (5) information principle and theme continuity, and (6) heavier agents, which influence or determine the choice of a passive construction. In addition to those mentioned above, three more passive structures can be seen in headlines: (7) participial adjectives expressing feelings, (8) passives using verbs other than be, and (9) sentences beginning with past participles. In this paper, passives are classified and analyzed according to these nine factors