Plan: Introduction

Advertisements and Announcements

Advertisements made their way into the British press at an early stage of its development, i.e., in the mid-17th century. So they are as old as newspapers themselves. The function of advertisements and announcements, like that of brief news, is to inform the reader. There are two basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified and non-classified (separate).
In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name. In most newspapers the reader never fails to find several hundred advertisements and announcements classified into groups, such as COURT CIRCULAR, TODAY’S BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, DEATHS, IN MEMORIAM, BUSINESS OFFERS, PERSONAL, etc. This classified arrangement has resulted in a number of stereotyped patterns regularly employed in newspaper advertising. Note one of the accepted patterns of classified advertisements and announcements in The Daily Telegraph:

Court Circular

Buckingham Palace
May 25th
The Princess Royal this morning opened Kemble Hall, Kemble Road, Tottenham, London №17, and was received by Miss Rosemary Warne (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London). Her Royal Highness, President, Riding for the Disabled Association, later visited The Diamond Center for Handicapped Riders to mark its Thirtieth Anniversary at Woodmansterne Road, Carshalton, Surry, and was received by Air Vice-Marshal Clive Evans (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London).

Deaths

SAUNDERS; Patrick William (Pat), on 22nd May, 2004, in his 80th year. Beloved husband of Maureen and dearly loved father of Linda and Michael, Grandfather of Ian, Alison, Emma and Laura. Private family funeral.

Births

HARSAS. – ON 5th May, 2004, to Amanda and Patrick, a beautiful daughter, Scarlett Anne, an adored sister for Alexander and Callum.
All announcements in the Birth section are built on exactly the same elliptical pattern. This tendency to eliminate from the sentence all elements that can be done without is a traditional one in advertisement and announcement writing. The elliptic sentence structure has no stylistic function; it is purely technical; to economize space, expensive in what newspaper men call the; advertising hole;. Though of course, having become a common practice, this peculiar brevity of expression is a stylistic feature of advertisements and announcements which may take a variety of forms, for example,
TRAINED NURSE with child 2 years seeks post London preferred; Write Box C. 268, The Times, E.C.4.
NEW AUTHORS publish your book All subject invited Write or send your manuscript to: ATHENA PRESS Queen House, 2 Holly Road, Twickenham TW1 4EG.UK.
Here the absence of all articles and some punctuation marks makes the statement telegram-like. Sentences which are grammatically complete also tend to be short and compact.
The vocabulary of classified advertisements and announcements is on the whole essentially neutral with here and there a sprinkling of emotionally coloured words or phrases used to attract the reader’s attention. Naturally, it is advertisements and announcements in the Personal section that are sometimes characterized by emotional colouring, but it is generally moderate, though editors place no restrictions on it.
ROBUST, friendly student, not entirely unintelligent, seeks Christmas vacation job. No wife, will travel, walk, ride or drive and undertake any domestic, agricultural or industrial activity. Will bidders for this curiously normal chap please write Box C. 835, The Times, E.C. 5.
As for the separate (non-classified) advertisements and announcements, the variety of language form and subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential feature common to all may be pointed out. The reader’s attention is attracted by every possible means: typographical, graphical and stylistic, both lexical and syntactical. Here is no call for brevity, as the advertiser may buy as much space as he chooses.