Skip to main content

To + verb in sentence without any other verb


From time to time I come across a sentence with to + verb, but with no other verb in it. I see it often in news titles. For example:



Squall, Tina and Lightning to appear in Final Fantasy Explorers



But what does it mean? What is the difference between this form, and that:



Squall, Tina and Lightning are appearing in Final Fantasy Explorers



The first time I saw that, I thought it was a mistake.



Answer



The example you quote is not grammatically correct, but it's not a mistake. It's an unofficial abbreviated form of English often called 'headlinese', used for newspaper headlines and similar statements. Words that would be commonly understood are removed (such as the 'are' in your example) so that the headline can fit in the available space, and so that the font can be as large as possible while getting the meaning across.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more