Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/303

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(2)

PANCAKES

Wife Baked Tempted Soldier To
 Freedom, But Sirup To Put on
   Them Caused His Arrest.

Style in Heads. Rhyme and alliteration may be used to advantage on rare occasions, but generally this similarity of sound produces a jingling result that is not pleasing. Originality and novelty can be given by choice and combination of words much more effectively than by the artificial means of similar sounds.

To make headlines as concise as possible the articles "a," "an," and "the" are omitted, and auxiliary verbs not absolutely necessary are suppressed. When articles and auxiliaries are convenient to fill out the line to the required number of units, they may be retained, but should not be used at the beginning of a deck.

To give freshness and vividness to the head, the verb is usually put in the present tense even though the action is in the past; for example, "Roosevelt Speaks in Cleveland." Future action is expressed by the infinitive or by the regular future form with "will"; for example, "Roosevelt to Speak in Cleveland," or "Roosevelt Will Speak in Cleveland."

The active voice of the verb is preferred to the passive because the active is more vivid and more concise. "Cornell Wins Intercollegiate Regatta," is better than "Intercollegiate Regatta Won by Cornell." When, however, the passive is required to give the more significant part of the statement prominence in the first