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Full stop
Full stops should be used sparingly in headlines. There are two reasons for this:
1. Each full stop means loss of headline space. This really hurts when your headline overshoots the column width by half or one letter space and you are forced to write a fresh headline.
2. Full stops look ungainly in headlines. Imagine a newspaper page where every
headline ends with a full stop.
Some newspaper styles require that abbreviations must carry full stops. You don’t have an option in such cases. Otherwise, say no to full stops as far as possible.
Comma
The comma is one of the most important punctuation marks when it comes to writing headlines. It is used for the following two reasons:
1. Save space: Comma is a great space saver. You can replace the conjunction “and” in most headlines with comma.
2. Separate news points: Comma is very useful in separating two news points in the headline.
Jubilee supports IEBC, Cord against it
Colons
A colon is used in place of the attributive verb as it saves space.
Centre eager to hold polls in March, asserts Chauhan
Centre eager to hold polls in March: Chauhan
Semi-colons
Semi-colons are very effective in separating two clauses.
Shinde inducted as home minister; Tewari gets cabinet rank
Punctuation: Use semicolons where you would usually use periods (most of the time), and use single quotes where you would use double quotes in copy. For instance:
Student Senate meets with Hemenway; long-term tuition policy nears approval
Troupe puts a twist on ‘Oliver’
Hyphen
Strive to keep all punctuation except hyphens at the ends of lines. Don’t use a hyphen at the beginning or the end of a line. The Student Senate example above shows the proper approach with semicolons and hyphens. Work hard to avoid lines that split words the way this one does:
(Senate seeks long- term tuition policy)
The hyphen should be used whenever an adjectival phrase is used in the headline. An adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence. The adjective phrase can be placed before, or after, the noun or pronoun in the sentence. 5–year–old girl fights wild dog, saves brother
Exclamation mark
The exclamation marks should be used sparingly in headlines. They should be used only when there is strong irony in a story or an unexpected twist.
Spiderman is scared of heights!
They can also be used for headlining funny stories, like the one where two calves were married in an Orissa village.
Moo! Bovine couple tie nuptial knot in style
Quotation marks
You have two options when it comes to using quotation marks. You can use the single quote mark or the double quote mark. Both are correct. However, most newspapers prefer to use the single quote mark because it saves space, and looks visually more appealing. ‘I have been framed’
Apostrophes
The use of apostrophe should be limited in headlines. It should be used when a word is used in the possessive case.
Headlines are basically titles, and the reason periods aren't usually put in titles is: Full stops, like their name suggests, are something that halts the eye of your reader....Titles are all about leading your reader into your post and so anyway [sic] that you can help this flow is a bonus.
NatalieR answered the question on June 16, 2022 at 05:47
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