From Kenneth Beare,
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
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Many students have difficulty understanding newspaper headlines. This is because newspaper headlines are often incomplete. For example:

Difficult Times Ahead
Under Pressure from Boss
Mustang Referral Customer Complaint

This lesson focuses on helping make sense of the strange forms used in newspaper headlines. You may want to review some of the most common grammar exceptions found in newspaper headlines before you take this lesson into class.

Aim: Understanding newspaper headlines

Activity: "Translating" newspaper headlines into more understandable English

Level: Intermediate to higher levels

Outline:

• Find some headlines in old newspapers or on the Internet and cut them out. There should be at least two headlines per student.
• Pass out one of the headlines to each student. Give them a few minutes to think about the meaning of each headline.
• Ask students to read their headlines aloud and give an explanation of what they think the article in question concerns.
• As a class, brainstorm on possible structural meanings behind the "strange" grammar found in headlines (refer to grammar exceptions found in newspaper headlines).
• Ask students to fit the following headlines into the correct categories on the worksheet. You may want to have students pair up to do this.
• Correct the exercise as a class.
• Pass out the headlines you have left to the students. Ask each student to "translate" each headline into "proper" English and give an explanation of what they think the article in question concerns.
• As a homework option, you may want to ask students to find some headlines on their own and repeat this exercise. A further challenge might be to ask students to find headlines, read the articles, and then ask other students to interpret their headlines in small groups.

Newspaper Headlines Worksheet

1. Match these newspaper headlines into with the following categories (some headlines fit two categories):

Categories

Noun Phrases
Noun Strings
Simple Tenses instead of Continuous or Perfect
Auxiliary Verbs Dropped in Passive Form
Articles Dropped
Infinitive to Indicate Future

Newspaper Headlines

Difficult Times Ahead
Forgotten Brother Appears
James Wood to Visit Portland
Landscaping Company Disturbance Regulations
Man Killed in Accident
Mayor to Open Shopping Mall
Mustang Referral Customer Complaint
Overwhelming Response of Voters
Passerby Sees Woman Jump
President Declares Celebration
Professors Protest Pay Cuts
Tommy the Dog Named Hero
Under Pressure from Boss
Unexpected Visit
Widow Pension Pay Committee

2. Try to "translate" the meaning of each of the headlines.