THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC
OF UZBEKISTAN
NAVOI STATE PEDAGOGICAL INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND
LITERATURE
COURSE PAPER
On the theme: The style of brief news items and the feature articles:
a comparative analysis
Group: 4 “A”
Researcher: Xatamov Sarvar Abdumadjitovich
Scientific adviser: Ochilova Nafisa Usmanovna
The work is defended on "__"______
and assessed at "_____" scores
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Contents
Introduction_____________________________________________________3
Chapter I. Brief news items_________________________________________5
1.1 Newspaper style _________________________________________6
1.2 Brief news explained______________________________________8
1.3 The Stylistics of brief news items ___________________________10
1.4 Examples and structure of brief news items on particular news items
examples ______________________________________________________16
Chapter II. Feature Articles _______________________________17
2.1 Feature writing _______________17
2.2 The style of feature writing ______________________________19
IV.Conclusion__________________________________________________21
References _____________________________________________________23
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I. Introduction.
We, people are of social nature and the society is by definition is a long-standing
group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress norms, of behavior
and artistic forms [9]. Share is the key word here as it is our core feature, whether
we like it or not. Any piece of information shared by more than two people which is
of more or less value can be regarded as news.
News can be different, just like their sources: while good news drives us to the
state of total euphoria, it is believed that bad news has wings. They can be verified
or unverified, unexpected, or even shocking depending on information and the
interest it carries.
Whatever the case is, the ultimate truth remains the same – we depend on news.
Through the span of time, people have mastered the news from sharing and
exchanging information to the point where it is an entire realm, industry and sphere
with its own ins and outs. In fact, as the time passed, we only started to rely on news
more. Our basic need in communication has outgrown into the worldwide web of
digital media and content. News is broadcast hourly; one can find out the latest news
on the other edge of the world in his/her own comfort. It is indeed in habit of
millions, if not billions of people to check the latest news early in the morning, while
sipping their favorite morning drink, whether it be tea, coffee orange juice or even
simple water.
During this rollercoaster of metamorphosis, news has shaped its own original and
authentic peculiarities that are recognized, known and even appreciated by a wide
range of people from simple content-consumers up to directing editors and
professional news writers.
The aim of the paper is to give verified information about two particular formats
of news: brief news items and feature articles. They will be exposed to separate
investigation discussion and also will be complemented with authors own viewpoint
about the style and features of both.
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The actuality of the theme that to find out the core distinctions between such
common spread phenomenon as brief news and feature articles.
The object of the course paper is considered to be lessons of higher educational
institutions, colleges, lyceums and also companies training.
The tasks of the work. The author puts the following tasks forward.
- I give full information for brief news items and feature articles.
- The style of the aforementioned format will be the subject matter of discussion
- Some relevant examples to both will be given from an authentic source.
The theoretical value of the work is that it will work well in teaching all ages
students if the facilitator is aware of all learning modes.
The practical value of the work is very useful for the students who study in
major of linguistics and everyone interested in the realm of general or applied
linguistics, specifically stylistics. In addition, it helps to make it easy for teachers
who want to apply in their classes. Regarding the digital epoch, the author holds a
firm belief that this very discussion can be a good of use for a very long time.
The structure of the work. Hereby work consists of introduction, two main
chapters with 4 parts, conclusion and the list of the used literature.
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Chapter I. Brief news items.
1.1 Newspaper style
Newspaper style is a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and
grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking the language as
a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the
reader. To attract the reader’s attention specific headlines, space ordering, a large
proportion of dates, personal names of countries, institutions, and individuals are
used. Since the primary function of newspaper style is to impart information, only
printed matter serving this purpose comes under newspaper style proper. The
newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other matters. The
headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also
carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline,
the use of emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus
indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows. But, of course,
the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the
editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles or leaders) are characterized by a
subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise. They have much in common with
classical specimens of publicistic writing and are often looked upon as such.
However, newspaper evaluative writing unmistakably bears the stamp of
newspaper style.
Thus, it seems natural to regard newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming
within the system of English newspaper style. But it should be noted that while
editorials and other articles in opinion columns are predominantly evaluative,5
newspaper feature articles, as a rule, carry a considerable amount of information,
and the ratio of the informative and the evaluative varies substantially from article
to article.
5
To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be
sufficient to analyse the following basic newspaper features: 1) brief news items, 2)
advertisements and announcements, 3) the headline, 4) the editorial.
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1.2 Brief news items explained
The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states facts
without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news
paragraphs is for the most part implicit and as a rule unemotional. News items are
essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotyped forms of expression prevail. As an
invariant, the language of brief news items is stylistically neutral, which seems to be
in keeping with the allegedly neutral and unbiased nature of newspaper reporting; in
practice, however, departures from this principle of stylistic neutrality (especially in
the so-called "mass papers") are quite common.
1.3 The Stylistics of brief news items
It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing
is neutral and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its specific
vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:
a) Special political and economic terms, e. g. Socialism, constitution, president,
apartheid, by-election, General Assembly, gross output, per capita production.
b) Non-term political vocabulary, e. g. public, people, progressive, nation-wide,
unity, peace, A characteristic feature of political vocabulary is that the border line
between terms and non-terms is less distinct than in the vocabulary of other special
fields. The semantic structure of some words comprises both terms and non-terms,
e. g. nation, crisis, agreement, member, representative, leader.
c) Newspaper cliches, i. e. stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases
familiar to the readert e. g. vital issue, pressing problem, informed sources, danger
of war, to escalate a war, war hysteria, overwhelming majority, amid stormy
appiause. Cliches more than anything else reflect the traditional manner of
expression in newspaper writing. They are commonly looked upon as a defect of
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style. Indeed, some cliches, especially those based on trite images (e.g. captains of
industry, pillars of society, bulwark of civilization) are pompous and hackneyed,
others, such as welfare state, affluent society^^are false and misleading. But
nevertheless, cliches are indispensable in newspaper style: they prompt the
necessary associations and prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding.
d) Abbreviations. News items, press^ reports and headlines abound in
abbreviations of various kinds. Among them abbreviated terms— names of
organizations, public and state bodies, political associations, industrial and other
companies, various offices, etc.—known by their initials are very common, e.g.
UNO (t/nited Nations Organization), TUG (Trades Union Congress), NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organization), AFL-CIO (Лтепсап Federation of Labour-Congress
of /ndustrial Organizations), EEC (.European Economic Community), TGWU
(Transport and General Workers Union), FO (Foreign Office), PIB (Prices and
/ncomes Board),
e) Neologisms. These are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The newspaper
is very quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and
technology. Hence, neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper
very easily and often even spring up on newspaper pages, e.g. lunik, a splash-down
(the act of bringing a spacecraft to a water surface), a teach-in (a form of
campaigning through heated political discussion), backlash or white backlash (a
violent reaction of American racists to the Negroes' struggle for civil rights),
frontlash (a vigorous antiracist movement), stop-go policies (contradictory, indecisive and inefficient policies).
The above-listed peculiarities of brief news items are the basic vocabulary
parameters of English newspaper style.
The vocabulary of brief news items is for the most part devoid of emotional
colouring. Some papers, however, especially those classed among "mass" or
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"popular" papers, tend to introduce emotionally coloured lexical units into
essentially matter-of-fact news stories, e.g. "Health Minister Kenneth Robinson
made this shock announcement yesterday in the Commons." (Daily Mirror)
"Technicians at the space base here are now working flat out to prepare GeAiini
6 for next Monday's blast-off." (Daily Mail)
"Defence Secretary Roy Mason yesterday gave a rather frosty reception in the
Commons to the latest proposal for a common defence policy for all EEC countries."
(Morning Star)
Important as vocabulary is, it is not so much the words and phrases used in brief
news items that distinguish them from other forms of newspaper writing. The
vocabulary groups listed above are also commonly found in headlines and
newspaper articles. The basic peculiarities of news items lie in their syntactical
structure.
As the reporter is obliged to be brief, he naturally tries to cram all his facts into
the space allotted. This tendency predetermines the peculiar composition of brief
news items and the syntactical structure ^,of the sentences. The size of brief news
items varies from one sentence to several (short) paragraphs. And generally, the
shorter the news item, |\ the more complex its syntactical structure.
The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount
importance, and may be regarded as their grammatical parameters.
a) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, e. g.
"Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster-General
(Kingston-upon-Thames), said he had been asked what was meant by the statement
in the Speech that the position of war pensioners and those receiving national
insurance benefits would be kept under close review." (The Times)
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"There are indications that BO AC may withdraw - threats of all-out dismissals
for pilots who restrict flying hours, a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots'
association said yesterday," (Morning Star)
b) Verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial) and verbal noun
constructions, e.g.
"Mr. Nobusuke Kishi, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has sought to set an
example to the faction-ridden Governing Liberal Democratic Party by announcing
the disbanding of his own faction numbering 47 of the total of 295 conservative
members of the Lower House of the Diet." (The Times)
c) Syntactical complexes, especially the nominative with the infinitive. These
constructions are largely used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to
shun responsibility for the facts reported, e. g.
"The condition of Lord Samuel, aged 92, was said last night to be a 'little better.'"
(The Guardian)
"A petrol bomb is believed to have been exploded against the grave of Cecil
Rhodes in the Matopos." (The Times)
d) Attributive noun groups are another powerful means of effecting brevity in
news items, e.g. 'heart swap patient' (Morning Star), 'the national income and
expenditure figures' (The Times), 'Labour backbench decision' (Morning Star), 'Mr.
Wilson's HMS fearless package deal' (Morning Star).
e) Specific word-order. Newspaper tradition, coupled with the rigid rules of
sentence structure in English, has greatly affected the word-order of brief news
items. The word-order in one-sentence news paragraphs and in what are called
"leads" (the initial sentences in longer news items) is more or less fixed. Journalistic
practice has developed what is called the "five-w-and-h-pattern rule" (who-whatwhy-how-where-when)and for a long time strictly adhered to it. In terms of grammar
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this fixed sentence structure may be expressed in the following manner: Subject—
Predicate (+Object)—Adverbial modifier of reason (manner)— Adverbial
modifier..of place-4Adverbial modifier of time, e.g.
"A neighbour's peep through a letter box led to the finding of a woman dead from
gas and two others semiconscious in a block of council flats in Eccles New Road,
Salford, Lanes., yesterday." (The Guardian)
It has been repeatedly claimed by the authors of manuals of journalistic writing
that the "five-w-arid4i" structure was the only right pattern of sentence structure to
use in news reports. Facts, however, disprove this contention. Statistics show that
there are approximately as many cases in which the traditional word-order is violated
as those in which it is observed. It is now obvious that the newspaper has developed
new sentence patterns not typical of other styles. This observation refers, firstly, to
the position of the adverbial-modifier of definite time. Compare another pattern
typical of brief news sentence structure:
"Derec Heath, 43, yesterday left Falmouth for the third time in his attempt to
cross the Atlantic in a 12ft dinghy." (Morning Star)
"Brighton council yesterday approved а £ 22,500 scheme to have parking meters
operating in the centre of the town by March." (The Times)
This and some other unconventional sentence patterns have become a common
practice with brief news writers.
There are some other, though less marked, tendencies in news item writing of
modifying well-established grammatical norms. Mention should be made of
occasional disregard for the sequence of tenses rule, e.g.
"The committee —which was investigating the working of the 1969 Children and
Young Persons Act — said that some school children in remand centres are getting
only two hours lessons a day." (Morning Star)
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What is ordinarily looked upon as a violation of grammar rules in any other kind
of writing appears to be a functional peculiarity style.
1.4 Analysis of brief news items
The newspapers use in two stylistic devices as "Newspaper style (mass media)
Belles-lettres style, Newspaper style special graphical means are used to attract the
readers attention. Belles-lettres style the richest register of communication besides
its own language means, other styles can be used besides informative and persuasive
functions, belles-lettres style has a unique task to impress the reader are aesthetically.
Types of meaning (logical, emotive, nominal).
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1.5 Examples and structure of brief news items on particular news items
examples
Beside analytical exposition, students in high school should study a news item
text. When you read what is going on around you in a newspaper and magazine, in
fact you have studied an example of news item. The new item text is written to
show the daily happening in surroundings.
The news item can be very effective way in spreading news. Meanwhile for
student it can helps a lot in understanding English text. All news item example
should be arranged with three basic elements. They are newsworthy, background
events, and news sources.
The theme of a news item text example can be various. We can read a news
item text about economy, news item text about healthy, or news item text example
about funny news. After understanding the definition and the purpose of a news
item text and the generic structure, students should continue to learn the language
features of news item. Learning a news item text some time deals with a 5w 1h
news item. They stand for 5 WHAT questions and 1 HOW question which are
essentially used in applying the language features news item.
What and how is news item text? The following news is best sample for news
item as it is arranged in the generic structure order; news worthy event,
background event, and source. Here is the best news item text.
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1. News Item Text - Worker Buried Under Pineapples
This post is an odd, funny, strange news. It is not only a spoof text which can be
funny but a news item text too. No more talking, let's see the following example of
short funny news item text!
A Worker was Buried in Pineapples - news item text about worker buried under
pineapples
There was a man working at a warehouse. When he was doing his job, he was
buried on 1500 pounds of pineapple.
The identity of the worker was not reported. Though he got that accident, he
was not injured but he was sent to a hospital.
The accident happened when the worker was unloading boxes of pineapple
from shipping container. The stack toppled over as result more than one thousand
pounds of pineapple buried him.
The New York Daily News reported that the worker was 39 years old. While he
was unloading pineapples from the ship, he got the accident.
That is an odd news. Poor him but it keeps odd and funny. Well now we are
going to talk about the generic structure.
1. Newsworthy event:
A man buried in pineapple when he was working
2. Background events:
The worker's name was not known. He was injured but kept to sent to hospital.
The man got accident when he was working unloading the pineapple from the ship
container.
3. Sources:
New York Daily News' report can be a source of this news item text that the
man is 39 year old.
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That is all our news item to day. Hopefully we get better understanding what a
news item text is.
2. Example of News Item Text about Landslide
This is another example of news item text. For more news item samples, read
news item label. The news item text below is about natural disaster,
Landslide in Bukittinggi
Two people died while four others were wounded in a landslide at a yard
behind a house near Teleng market in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra on Tuesday.
Killed were 3-year-old Yusuf, who was the son of a kiosk owner at the market,
Bujang, and 22-year-old Meli, who was a visitor to the market. The injured were
rushed to the Achmad Muchtar and Yarsi hospitals.
Bukittinggi Deputy Mayor Ismet Amziz said Tuesday it was suspected that
recent heavy rainfall had caused the landslide.
Source: thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/10/two-die-bukittinggi-landslide.html
Generic Structure of News Item
1. Main event: News item text presents the daily newsworthy. In this example
of news item text, the first paragraph is the main event. It informs the reader that a
landslide happened
2. Elaboration: The second paragraph of this example of news item gives
further explanation about the main event that the two victim were 3 and 22 years
old while the injured were brought to hospitals
3. Source of information:
The last paragraph is the official statement from the expert or the authority
which strengthen the news of the main event.
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3. News Item Text & Generic Structure: Sidewalk Skiing Taking Off In Saudi
This is another example of news item text. This news is written to describe how
a text which students of high schools learn is arranged. This news is about car sport
which most people seems extreme, weird, and odd. Now let's read it!
Saudi Men Have Cars Driven on Two Wheels
In Saudi Arabia, there is a new racing car which is called sidewalk skiing. It is
really crazy race. The car is driven on two wheels.
When the car is being flipped onto two wheels by the driver, the passengers
cling on outside. This Arabian craze of 'sidewalk skiing' is bringing new extreme
meaning to the term 'off-road. That extreme motor sport is flocking to the desert in
the northern city of Hail. Because there are open roads in Saudi Arabia's desert,
they provide an ideal location for the extreme car racing.
A group of young Saudi men who like this extreme car sport call themselves the
Impossible Group.
If it is labeled as news item, what is the generic structure?
Well, this short text is arranged to fulfill the 3 element of news item's
structure. They are:
1. Newsworthy event: Extreme car sport on two wheels
2. Background events: The car is driven and flipped on 2 wheels. The
extreme car sport brings new meaning to the off road sport. The sport happens in
the city of Hail.
3. Sources: The stuntmen of the car sport call themselves as the impossible
group
Generic Structure of News Item Text in Learning English
1. Newsworthy event: Information on what happened, who experienced, where
and when it happened
The crew of the Sinar Kudus cargo ship were finally freed by Somali pirates on
Sunday
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2. Background events: Several events proceeded and followed the main event
stated in the first paragraph
a. Pirates received the cash of $4.5 million early this morning to free the sailor
b. In March, a large group of 30 to 50 Somali pirates seized the Indonesian flagged
and owned ship
3. Sources: Statement from witness, participant, or authorized persons.
David Batubara said that the ship waon its way to the nearest secure port and was
being heavily guarded by Indonesian warships
News item text is a good medium to practice writing when you want to be a
journalist. You just need to write about everything happens around you. Arranging
the paragraphs into 3 elements then the good news written is created.
News item texts are often found in newspaper, magazine radio news and others.
News item tells the newsworthy event of the day. I have posted some news items
samples and this is another one. Hopefully it helps students to get a better
understanding on what and how a news item text is.
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Chapter II. Feature Articles
2.1 What is a feature story?
A feature story is a piece of non-fiction writing about news. A feature story is
a type of soft news.[1] The main sub-types are the news feature and the humaninterest story.[1]
A feature story is distinguished from other types of non-news by the quality of
the writing. Stories should be memorable for their reporting, crafting, creativity,
and economy of expression.[2]
Style
A feature story, as contrasted with straight news reporting, normally presents
newsworthy events and information through a narrative story, complete with
a plot and story characters.[3] It differs from a short story primarily in that the
content is not fictional. Like literature, the feature story relies upon creativity and
subjectivity to make an emotional connection with the readers and may highlight
some universal aspect of human nature.[3] Unlike straight news, the feature story
serves the purpose of entertaining the readers, in addition to informing
them.[3] Although truthful and based on good facts, they are less objective than
straight news.[3]
Unlike straight news, the subject of a feature story is usually not time
sensitive.[3] It generally features good news.[4]
Feature stories are usually written in an active style, with an emphasis on lively,
entertaining prose.[3] Some forms, such as a color story, uses description as the
main mode.[3]
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Published features and news
Feature stories are stories with only one feature, but are creative and true. While
the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when
approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite
possible to write a feature story in the style of a news story. Nevertheless, features
do tend to take a more narrative approach, perhaps using opening paragraphs as
scene-setting narrative hooks instead of the delivery of the most important facts. A
feature story can be in a news article, a newspaper, and even online.
Types
In The Universal Journalist,[5] David Randall suggests the following categories
of feature:
Colour piece
Describing a scene and throw light on its theme.
Fly on the wall
Activities are observed without the involvement of the journalist.
Behind the scenes
Similar to the above, but with the journalist a part of events.
In disguise/undercover
Pretending to be another person (see Ryan Parry[6]).
Interview
Main article: interview
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Profile
An examination of a particular person. Will often include an interview.
How-To
This type of article assists readers by explaining how to do something (and the
writer may learn about the topic through research, experience, or interviews with
experts on the topic).[7]
Fact box / Chronology
A simple list of facts, perhaps in date order.
Backgrounder / A history of
An extended fact box.
Full texts
Extracts from books or transcripts of interviews.
My testimony
A first-person report of some kind.
Analysis
An examination of the reasons behind an event.
Vox pop / Expert roundup
A selection of views from members of the public or experts.
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Opinion poll
a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion
polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a
series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence
intervals. A person who conducts polls is referred to as a pollster.
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2.2 Writing a feature
A feature is a longer piece of writing than a news story. Features come in many
different types and are widely used in magazines, newspapers and online.
A feature will often cover an issue in greater depth than a news story would do; or
it might look at an ongoing story from a different angle.
2.3 News Story vs Feature
This table compares some of the characteristics of news stories and features.
Remember that these are not hard and fast rules. There can be overlap between the
two genres.
For example, a recent news item can be covered in a news feature. Or a news
article can abandon the inverted pyramid structure to cover a human interest story
using more detail and emotion.
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2.4 The stylistic features of feature articles
Voice Features
articles use a mix of first, second or third person as appropriate. First person (I, me,
my, we, us, our) can be used to establish a relationship with the reader, a relationship
with the person who has died and to possibly explain anecdotes. Third person is used
where the speaker is providing a personal history of the deceased or an outline of
their life.
Language & Grammar
 Language choice can be formal or informal depending on topic. The use of
informal, colloquial (slang) and first person narrative creates a personal tone to the
piece.
 Uses mainly present tense.
 Variety of long and short sentences.
 Contractions are acceptable (didn’t, it’s, that’s, we’ll).
 Relevant jargon adds authenticity to information and opinions presented.
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 Use of anecdotes or background information to maintain reader interest.
 Facts or evidence validates the writer's viewpoints.
 In humorous articles, exaggeration and generalisation are used to heighten humour.
 Rhetorical questions can be used to involve the reader.
 Emotive words are used to evoke a personal response in the reader.
 Figurative language may be used to engage the reader’s imagination (eg. imagery,
simile, description).
 Direct quotes can personalise the topic.
2.5 The structure of feature articles
Introduction
 Headline: to identify the focus of the feature; attention grabbing
 Subheading: provides an angle or point of view
 By-line: to identify the expert or journalist writing the report
 Hook: An interesting first sentence to ‘hook’ readers’ attention and establish a
point of view through a direct statement, example or hypothetical question.
 Introductory paragraph: This paragraph expands on the hook and establishes the
writer’s tone and focus for the article.
Body
 Paragraph 2: first main point. An explanation of how this person/issue has
contributed to society. This should be an interpretation of events in the author’s own
words.
 Paragraph 3 onwards: further main points provided to explain interesting events or
achievements about the person/issue to inform the reader /delve into the issue
further. Facts, evidence, quotes, challenging questions to the reader, opinions are
included in these paragraphs
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 Photographs, tables, diagrams and graphs are often used to accompany the text in
feature articles to provide facts or evidence to support the author’s explanation and
interpretation of the person/issue/events
 Can include highlighted pieces of text to emphasize specific events or quotes.
Conclusion
The concluding paragraph should leave a lasting impression by:
 Reminding the reader of the article's main idea
 Suggesting an appropriate course of action
 Encouraging a change of attitude or opinion
2.6 Example of feature story
Bruce Means stood alone, deep in the Pakaraima Mountains in northwestern
Guyana. Scanning the cloud forest with his headlamp, he peered through his foggy
glasses at a sea of ancient trees cloaked in beards of verdant moss. The humid air,
ripe with the smell of decaying plants and wood, trilled with a melodious symphony
offrogs, drawing him like a siren song so deep into the jungle that he wondered if he
would ever make it back out.
Grasping a sapling in one hand for balance, Bruce took a shaky step forward. His
legs quivered as they sank into the boggy leaf litter, and he cursed his 79-year-old
body. At the beginning of this expedition, Bruce had told me that he planned to start
slowly but would grow stronger each day as he acclimated to life in the bush. After
all, during his career as a conservation biologist, he’d made previous expeditions to
this region. I’d seen a photo of him in his younger days—a six-foot-four, broadshouldered backwoodsman, with his long hair pulled into a ponytail and a huge
snake draped over his neck.
He’d told me stories about riding rickety buses in the 1980s across the plains of
Venezuela’s Gran Sabana and then setting off into the mountains, where he hunted
25
for new species of amphibians and reptiles. Once, he’d spent days alone on the
summit of an obscure peak, sometimes naked, living as close to the natural world as
he could. These were all an extension of the explorations he’d made as a
kid in Southern California, tramping through the Santa Monica hills looking for
alligator lizards and tarantulas, or, as he likes to say, “small experiences of the
magnificence of nature.”
It was that philosophy that had led him here, now. Sure, the ponytail was gray
and thin, and at 285 pounds, he was well over his fighting weight,
but he assured me he still had the fire. Soon, he would find his rhythm.
But the jungle—with its swarming insects, incessant rain, and sucking bogs that
threaten to swallow a person whole—has a way of wearing one down, and after a
week of rugged bush- whacking and endless river crossings, it was obvious to
everyone on our expedition that he was growing weaker each day. At night, a rattly
cough kept him awake, and as he lay in his ham- mock, he thought about home back
in Tallahassee, Florida, where his wife and two grown sons had practically begged
him not to go on this trip. The wilds of the Guiana Highlands are no place for an outof-shape septuagenarian.
And yet, I’d seen Bruce rally before. We’d made three previous trips to this
region, a remote hot spot of biodiversity called the Paikwa River Basin,
That lies on the northern edge of the Amazon rain- forest. Bruce’s main interest
there was frogs, and if the planet held a frog paradise, this was surely it.
Frogs play a critical role in ecosystems around the world, but nowhere have they
existed for longer than in equatorial rainforests like this one.
For millions of years, the frogs here have followed an array of evolutionary
pathways, resulting in a profusion of species in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and with
astonishing adaptations.
26
More thana thousand amphibian species have been described in the Amazon
Basin alone— from jewel-like poison dart frogs (named for their primary use among
Indigenous people), to glass frogs (with skin so thin it reveals their beating hearts),
to milk frogs (which live high in the canopy inside water-filled tree holes), to the
recently discovered zombie frogs (that spend most of their lives underground). Many
of these have yielded breakthroughs in medicine, including new types of antibiotics
and painkillers and potential cancer and Alzheimer’s treatments.
Scientists believe they’ve identified only a fraction of the world’s frog species.
Meanwhile, the ones we do know of are disappearing at an alarming rate. By some
estimates, up to 200 frog species may have gone extinct since the 1970s, and Bruce
and other biologists fear that many others will die out before we even know they
exist. What secrets about evolution, medicine, or other mysteries would be lost with
them?
Bruce refused to dwell on such gloomy ruminations. He focused instead on the
wealth of biological treasures these rainforests still held. “The potential for future
discoveries in the Paikwa is virtually limitless,” he told me, his voice filled with his
trademark enthusiasm. But he also knew that time was running out—not just for the
frogs but for him too.
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IV Conclusion
As it can be seen from this analysis, the following conclusions can be made:

This subject is yet to be thoroughly analyzed, due to the absence of the
relevant materials. The character of this very study is rather too specific, thus
it is essential that this topic should be covered in depth. The author despite the
reasons shown above made an attempt to shed a mere light on the subjectmatter, yet it must be admitted this can not be regarded as an ‘exemplary’ or
‘reference’ work.

The two of the particular genres which were exposed to the study in the
paper are two different realms, yet they belong to the same, newspaper style.
While the former server to inform the reader about the event solidary to the
principles of publicistic style i.e., short and laconic, the latter is wider and
detailed, which is a good serve for its main purpose – to fully absorb the reader
to the atmosphere and the ambience of the events being described in the
feature writing.

Despite the fact that the discipline of the English stylistics have been taught
for over a half century, it has found surprising that the relevant materials for
the study were not found. While research, soviet scholars were exposed to the
study, and yet most of them were supporters of the Galpyerin’s work on
stylistics.
In this era of cultural and informational diversity, it is rather odd to opine
solely or predominantly only one work.
Despite the attempt can not be called as an absolute win, it can be however, a
good starting point for further researchers and deeper analysis. This pioneer work
can be regarded as the first step in the terra incognita, an unknown realm, where two
of the genres – brief news items and the feature articles are being exposed to the
stylistic comparison.
28
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p. 3. ISBN 9780868404530.
Feature
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UNSW
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3. Garrison, Bruce (4 April 2014). Professional Feature Writing. Routledge.
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3. Starr, Douglas Perret; Dunsford, Deborah Williams (14 January
2014). Working the Story: A Guide to Reporting and News Writing for
Journalists and Public Relations Professionals. Rowman & Littlefield.
p. 163. ISBN 9780810889125.
4. Randall, David (May 1, 2000). The Universal Journalist. Pluto Press.
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ure%20is%20a%20longer,story%20from%20a%20different%20angle.
13. Galpyerin, English stylistics.
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