What is the standard regarding punctuation in headlines?
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Related: Punctuation of captions – Andrew Leach Jul 17 '15 at 15:08
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1There are no standards for punctuation in English, let alone in English headlines. You prints your paper and you takes your choice. – John Lawler Jul 17 '15 at 15:24
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related: Where and why were capital letters first used in headlines? and Which words in a title should be capitalized? and Capital letters in headlines – Mari-Lou A Jul 18 '15 at 08:25
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Headline writers usually feel free to violate any rule of grammar that will allow them to condense what they want to say to the space they have available. Punctuation takes up space and so will be used only where it is absolutely necessary to convey the meaning - or alternatively where a punctuation mark can be used instead of one or more words.
So for example, instead of:
THE MINISTER SAID SOMETHING WOULD BE DONE.
The headline would be:
MINISTER: SOMETHING WILL BE DONE
Or instead of:
THE COMPANY WILL HIRE MORE WOMEN AND MINORITIES
we get:
COMPANY TO HIRE MORE WOMEN, MINORITIES
DJClayworth
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